RIVERSIDE  BIOGRAPHICAL  SERIES 


PAUL 
JONES 


H.HAPGOOD 


HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &COMPANY 


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t\)t  H^ittt&iDt  ^iograptiical  ^txit$ 

being 

SHORT    STUDIES   OF 
GREAT    AMERICANS 

Andrew  Jackson,  by  W.  G.  Brown 
James  B.  Eads,  by  Louis  How 
Benjamin  Franklin,  by  Paul  E.  More 
Peter  Cooper,  by  R.  W.  Raymond 
Thomas  Jefferson,  by  H.  C.  Merwin 
William  Penn,  by  George  Hodges 
Ulysses  S.  Grant,  by  Walter  Allen 
Lewis  and  Clark,  by  William  R.  Lighton 
John  Marshall,  by  James  B.  Thayer 
Alexander  Hamilton,  by  Charles  A.  Conant 
Washington   Irving,  by  Henry  W.  Boynton 
Paul  Jones,  by  Hutchins  Hapgood 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  W.  G.  Brown 
Samuel  de  Champlain,  by  H.  D.  Sedgwick,  Jr. 
Christopher  Columbus,  by  Horace  E.  Scudder 
Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Carl  Schurz 

Other  N'umbers  in  Preparation 

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9 

10 

II 
12 


THE  RIVERSIDE  BIOGRAPHICAL  SERIES 
has  been  planned  to  answer  a  demand  for  a  comprehensive 
illustration  of  the  growth  and  development  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  through  a  biographic  study  of  its  leaders, 
whether  this  leadership  has  been  in  state,  in  army  and 
navy,  in  the  church,  in  letters,  science,  invention,  art, 
industry,  exploration,  pioneering,  or  in  any  of  the  diverse 
fields  of  national  activity. 

The  publishers  propose  to  issue  these  books  at  intervals 
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effect  will  be  a  Biographical  History  of  the  United  States. 

Although  somewhat  limited  by  the  small  size  of  the  vol- 
umes, the  writers  of  the  Series  w'ill  endeavor  not  only  to 
give  agreeable  personal  sketches  of  the  subjects  entrusted 
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achievement  of,  and  even  to  intimate  somewhat  the  influ- 
ence exerted  by,  each  of  the  men  delineated ;  also  to  point 
out  the  contribution  which  each  has  made  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country,  and  to  show  how  effectually  in  some 
instances  their  works  have  followed  them  ;  and  thus  these 
small  volumes  become  valuable  adjuncts  to  the  definite 
text-book  study  of  American  history.  The  condensation 
demanded  by  a  school  book  gives  little  room  for  specific 
treatment  of  great  historical  characters.  These  individual 
studies  will  go  far  towards  enriching  and  complementing 
the  school  history. 

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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

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THE  COLLECTION  OF 
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^\)t  Hit3er0iuc  Biographical  ^ttm 

NUMBER  12 

PAUL  JONES 

BY 

HUTCHINS   HAPGOOD 


PAUL    JONES 


BY 


HUTCHINS  HAPGOOD 


^ibemacPreQ 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   AND   COMPANY 

(€bc  JI^iticr?itic  presis,  Cambridge 

1901 


COPYRIGHT,    19OI,    BY    HUTCHINS    HAPGOOD 
ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


Published  November,  igoi 


PREFACE 

The  amount  of  material  bearing  on  Paul 
Jones  is  very  large,  and  consists  mainly  of 
his  extensive  correspondence,  published  and 
unpublished,  his  journals,  memoirs  by  his 
private  secretary  and  several  of  his  officers, 
published  and  unpublished  impressions  by 
his  contemporaries,  and  a  number  of  sketches 
and  biographies,  some  of  which  contain  rich 
collections  of  his  letters  and  extracts  from 
his  journals.  The  biographies  which  I  have 
found  most  useful  are  the  "  Life,"  by  John 

^  Henry  Sherburne,  published  in  1825,  which 
is  mainly  a  collection  of  Jones's  correspond- 
ence ;  another  volume,  composed  largely  of 
^'extracts  from  his  letters  and  journals,  called 
the  "  Janette-Taylor  Collection,"  published 
in  1830 ;  the  first  and  only  extended  narra- 
tive at  once  readable  and  unpartial,  by  Alex- 
t  ander  Slidell  MacKenzie,  published  in  1845  ; 

-^  and  the  recently  published  *'  Life  "  by  Au- 


vi  PREFACE 

gustus  C.  Buell.  To  Mr.  Buell's  exhaustive 
work  I  am  indebted  for  considerable  original 
material  not  otherwise  accessible  to  me.  On 
the  basis  of  the  foregoing  mass  of  material 
I  have  attempted,  in  a  short  sketch,  to  give 
merely  an  unbiased  account  of  the  man. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGK 

I.  Early  Voyages 1 

II.   Cruises  of  the    Providence  and   the 

Alfred 17 

III.  The  Cruise  of  the  Ranger    .        .        .30 

IV.  Efforts  in  France  to  secure  a  Com- 

mand    44 

V.  The  Fight  with  the  Serapis          .        .  56 

VI.   Diplomacy  at  the  Texel     ...  70 

Vn.  Society  est  Paris 80 

Vin.   Private    Ambition    and    Public    Busi- 
ness      91 

IX.  In  the  Russian  Service  ,        .        .        .  108 

X.  Last  Days 118 


The  portrait  is  from  the  original  by 
C.  W.  Pecde,  in  Independence  Hall 


/ 


PAUL  JONES 


EAELY   VOYAGES 

John  Paul,  known  as  Paul  Jones,  who 
sought  restlessly  for  distinction  all  his  life, 
was  born  the  son  of  a  peasant,  in  July, 
1747,  near  the  ocean  on  which  he  was  to 
spend  a  large  portion  of  his  time.  His 
father  lived  in  Scotland,  near  the  fishing 
hamlet  of  Arbigland,  county  of  Kirkcud- 
bright, on  the  north  shore  of  Solway  Firth, 
and  made  a  living  for  the  family  of  seven 
children  by  fishing  and  gardening.  The 
mother,  Jeanne  Macduff,  was  the  daughter 
of  a  Higlilander,  and  in  Paul  Jones's  blood 
the  Scotch  canniness  and  caution  of  his 
Lowland  father  was  united  with  the  wild 
love  of  physical  action  native  to  his  mother's 
race. 


2  PAUL  JONES 

Little  is  known  of  the  early  life  of  the 
fifth  and  famous  child  of  the  Scotch  gar- 
dener. He  went  to  the  parish  school,  but 
not  for  long,  for  the  sea  called  him  at  an 
early  age.  When  he  was  twelve  years  old 
he  could  handle  his  fishing-boat  like  a  vet- 
eran. His  skill  and  daring  were  the  talk 
of  the  village.  One  day  James  Younger,  a 
ship-owning  merchant  from  Whitehaven, 
then  a  principal  seaport  on  the  neighboring 
coast  of  England,  visited  Arbigland,  in 
search  of  seamen  for  one  of  his  vessels.  It 
happened  on  that  day  that  Paul  Jones  was 
out  in  his  yawl  when  a  severe  squall  arose. 
Mr.  Younger  and  the  villagers  watched  the 
boy  bring  his  small  sailing-boat  straight 
against  the  northeaster  into  the  harbor ;  and 
Mr.  Younger  expressed  his  surprise  to  Paul's 
father,  who  remarked :  "  That 's  my  boy 
conning  the  boat,  Mr.  Younger.  This  is  n't 
much  of  a  squall  for  him."  The  result  was 
that  Mr.  Younger  took  Paid  back  with  him  to 
Whitehaven,  bound  shipmaster's  ap2:)rentice. 
A  little  while  after  that,  Paul  Jones  made 
his  first  of  a  series  of  merchant-ship  voyages 


EARLY  VOYAGES  3 

to  the  colonies  and  the  West  Indies.  He 
continued  in  Mr.  Younger' s  employ  for  four 
years ;  when  he  was  seventeen  he  made  a 
round  voyage  to  America  as  second  mate, 
and  was  fii'st  mate  a  year  later. 

Paul  left  Mr.  Younger 's  service  in  1766 
and  acquired  a  sixth  interest  in  a  ship  called 
King  George's  Packet,  in  which  he  went,  as 
first  mate,  to  the  West  Indies.  The  busi- 
ness instinct,  always  strong  in  him,  received 
some  satisfaction  during  this  voyage  by  the 
transportation  of  blacks  from  Africa  to  Ja- 
maica, where  they  were  sold  as  slaves.  The 
slave-trade  was  not  regarded  at  that  time 
as  dishonorable,  but  Jones's  eagerness  to 
engage  in  "  any  private  enterprise  "  —  a 
phrase  constantly  used  by  him  —  was  not 
accompanied  by  any  keen  moral  sensitive- 
ness. He  was  always  in  pursuit  of  private 
gain  or  immediate  or  posthumous  honor,  and 
his  grand  sentiments,  of  which  he  had  many, 
were  largely  histrionic  in  type.  After  one 
more  voyage  he  gave  up  the  slave-trading 
business,  probably  because  he  realized  that 
no  real  advancement  lay  in  that  line. 


4  PAUL  JONES 

On  the  John  O' Gaunt,  in  which  Jones 
shipped  for  England,  after  leaving  Jamaica, 
the  captain,  mate,  and  all  but  five  of  the 
crew  died  of  yellow  fever,  and  the  ship  was 
taken  by  Paul  into  Whitehaven.  For  this  he 
received  a  share  in  the  cargo,  and  in  1768, 
when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  the  own- 
ers of  the  John  (a  merchantman  sailing  from 
the  same  port)  gave  him  command,  and  in 
her  he  made  several  voyages  to  America. 
Life  on  a  merchantman  is  rough  enough 
to-day,  and  was  still  rougher  at  that  time. 
To  maintain  discipline  at  sea  requires  a 
strong  hand  and  a  not  too  gentle  tongue,  and 
Jones  was  fully  equipped  in  these  necessaries. 
During  the  third  voyage  of  the  John,  when 
fever  had  greatly  reduced  the  crew,  Mungo 
Maxwell,  a  Jamaica  mulatto,  became  muti- 
nous, and  Jones  knocked  him  down  with  a 
belaying  pin.  Jones  satisfactorily  cleared 
himself  of  the  residting  charge  of  murder, 
and  gave,  during  the  trial,  one  of  the  earliest 
evidences  of  his  power  to  express  himself 
almost  as  clearly  and  strongly  in  speech  as 
in  action. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  5 

Up  to  this  time  in  Paul's  career  there  are 
two  facts  wliich  stand  out  definitely:  one, 
that  his  rough  life,  in  association  with  com- 
mon seamen  from  the  time  that  he  was 
twelve  years  old,  and  his  lack  of  previous 
education,  made  difficult  his  becoming  what 
he  ardently  desired  to  be,  —  a  cultivated 
gentleman.  Stories  told  of  his  impulsive 
roughness  in  later  life,  such  as  the  quaint 
ones  of  how  he  used  to  kick  his  lieutenants 
and  then  invite  them  to  dinner,  are  proba- 
ble enough.  It  is  even  more  clear,  however, 
that  in  some  way  he  had  educated  himself, 
not  only  in  seamanship  and  navigation,  but 
also  in  naval  history  and  in  the  French  and 
Spanish  languages,  to  a  considerable  degree. 
On  a  voyage  his  habit  was  to  study  late  at 
night,  and  on  shore,  instead  of  carousing 
with  his  associates,  to  hunt  out  the  most  dis- 
tinguished person  he  could  find,  or  otherwise 
to  improve  his  condition.  His  passion  for 
acquisition  was  enormous,  but  his  early  edu- 
cation was  so  deficient  that  his  handwriting 
always  remained  that  of  a  schoolboy.  He 
dictated  many  of  his  innumerable  letters, 


6  PAUL   JONES 

particularly  those  in  French,  which  language 
lie  spoke  incorrectly  but  fluently. 

It  was  during  Paul's  last  voyage  as  cap- 
tain of  a  merchantman  that  the  event  took 
place  which  determined  him  to  change  his 
name  and  to  live  in  America.  Several 
years  previously  his  brother,  who  bad  been 
adopted  by  a  Virginia  planter  named  Jones, 
bad  come  at  the  death  of  the  latter  into  pos- 
session of  the  property,  and  Captain  Paul  was 
named  as  next  in  succession.  In  1773,  when 
the  captain  reached  the  Rappahannock  dur- 
ing his  final  merchant  voyage,  he  found  his 
brother  dying,  and,  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  old  Jones's  wiU,  he  took  the  name 
by  which  he  is  famous  and  became  the  owner 
of  the  plantation.  He  consequently  gave  up 
bis  sea  life  and  settled  down  to  "  calm  con-* 
templation  and  poetic  ease,"  as  be  expressed 
it  at  a  later  period. 

But  Jones  was  very  far  fix)m  being  con- 
templative, although  he  certainly  was  rather 
fond  of  inflated  poetry,  and  even  as  a 
planter,  surrounded  by  his  acres  and  bis 
slaves,  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  led  a 


EARLY  VOYAGES  7 

lazy  life.  He  seems  to  have  been  partly  oc- 
cupied in  continuing  the  important  acquaint- 
ances he  had  made  at  the  intervals  between 
his  voyages  and  in  watching  the  progress  of 
events  leading  to  war  with  England.  Jones 
was  given  to  gallantry,  and  while  on  the 
plantation  he  carried  on  the  social  affairs 
which  he  afterwards  continued,  as  recognized 
hero  and  chevalier  of  France,  on  a  magnifi- 
cent scale.  He  resisted,  as  he  did  all  through 
his  life,  any  benevolent  efforts  on  the  part 
of  the  colonial  dames  to  marry  him  off,  and 
as  the  war  grew  nearer  his  activity  in  pro- 
moting it  grew  greater.  He  made  frequent 
visits  to  his  patriot  friends,  met,  besides 
Joseph  Hewes,  whom  he  had  already  known, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  Philip  Livingston,  Colonel 
Washington  and  the  Lees,  and  was  later,  if 
not  at  this  time,  in  an  intimate  official  rela- 
tion with  Robert  and  Gouverneur  Morris. 
In  Jones's  intercourse  with  these  men  he 
showed  himself  one  of  the  most  fiery  of 
Whigs.  In  a  letter  to  Joseph  Hewes  writ- 
ten in  1774,  he  tells  how  a  British  officer 
made  a  remark  reflecting  on  the  virtue  of 


8  PAUL   JONES 

colonial  women.  "  I  at  once  knocked  Mr. 
Parker  down,"  he  adds,  in  a  st}4e  that  sug- 
gests the  straightforward  character  of  his 
official  reports. 

Although  dueling  was  at  that  time  the 
conventional  method  of  settling  affars  of 
that  nature,  no  personal  encounter  resulted 
between  Jones  and  Mr.  Parker.  Jones,  in- 
deed, did  not  seem  averse  to  such  an  issue, 
for  he  sent  a  friend  to  propose  pistols,  with 
which  he  was  a  crack  shot.  It  is  neverthe- 
less a  striking  fact  that  Paul  Jones,  the 
desperate  fighter,  who  was  certainly  as 
brave  as  any  one,  and  was  often  placed  in 
favorable  situations  for  such  settlements, 
never  fought  a  duel.  Add  to  this  that  his 
temper  was  quick  and  passionate,  and  that 
he  had  to  the  full  the  high-flown  sentiments 
of  honor  of  the  time,  and  the  fact  seems  all 
the  more  remarkable.  The  truth  is  that 
Jones  was  as  cautious  as  he  was  brave.  He 
acted  sometimes  impulsively,  but  reflection 
quickly  came,  and  he  never  manifested  a 
dare-devil  desire  to  put  his  life  unnecessarily 
in  danger.     When  there  was  anything  to  be 


EARLY   VOYAGES  9 

gained  by  exposing  his  person,  he  did  it  with 
the  utmost  coohiess,  but  he  consistently 
refused  to  put  himself  at  a  disadvantage. 
When,  on  at  least  one  occasion,  he  was 
challenged  to  fight  with  swords,  with  which 
he  was  only  moderately  skillful,  he  demanded 
pistols.  Fame  was  Jones's  end,  and  he  knew 
that  premature  death  was  inconsistent  with 
that  consummation. 

Although  Jones  was,  at  the  time,  in  finan- 
cial difficulties,  he  no  doubt  welcomed  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  Service  in  the  cause 
of  the  colonies  could  not  be  remunerative, 
and  Jones  knew  it.  A  privateering  com- 
mand would  have  paid  better  than  a  regu- 
lar conmaission,  but  Jones  constantly  refused 
such  an  appointment ;  and  yet  he  has  been 
called  buccaneer  and  pirate  by  many  who 
have  written  about  him,  including  as  recent 
writers  as  Rudyard  Kipling,  John  Morley, 
and  Theodore  Roosevelt.  Nor  is  it  likely 
that  a  feeling  of  patriotism  led  Jones  to  serve 
the  colonies  against  his  native  land.  The  rea- 
son lay  in  his  overpowering  desire  of  action. 
He  saw  in  the  service  of  the  colonies  an  oq- 


10  PAUL  JONES 

portunity  to  employ  his  energies  on  a  larger 
and  more  glorious  scale  than  in  any  other 
way.  Service  in  the  British  navy  in  an 
important  capacity  was  impossible  for  a 
man  with  no  family  or  position.  Jones 
accordingly  went  in  for  the  highest  prize 
within  his  reach,  and  with  the  instinct  of 
the  true  sportsman  served  well  the  side  he 
had  for  the  time  espoused. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  Lexington  Jones 
wrote  a  letter  to  Joseph  Hewes,  sending 
copies  to  Jefferson,  Robert  Morris,  and  Liv- 
ingston. "  I  cannot  conceive  of  submission 
to  complete  slavery.  Therefore  only  war 
is  in  sight.  ...  I  beg  you  to  keep  my 
name  in  your  memory  when  the  Congress 
shall  assemble  again,  and  ...  to  call  upon 
me  in  any  capacity  which  your  knowledge 
of  my  seafaring  experience  and  your  opinion 
of  my  qualifications  may  dictate."  Soon 
after  Congress  met,  a  Marine  Committee, 
Robert  Morris,  chairman,  was  appointed, 
and  Jones  was  requested  to  report  on  the 
"  proper  quahfications  of  naval  officers  and 
the  kind  of  armed  vessels  most  desirable  for 


EARLY   VOYAGES  11 

the  service  of  the  United  States,  keeping  in 
view  the  limited  resources  of  the  Congress." 
He  was  also  asked  to  serve  on  a  committee 
to  report  upon  the  availability  of  the  vessels 
at  the  disposal  of  Congress.  Jones  was 
practically  the  head  of  this  committee,  and 
showed  the  utmost  industry  and  efficiency 
in  selecting,  arming,  and  preparing  for  sea 
the  unimportant  vessels  within  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  government. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  there  was  no 
American  navy.  Some  of  the  colonies  had, 
indeed,  fitted  out  merchant  vessels  with 
armaments,  to  resist  the  aggressions  of  the 
British  on  their  coasts,  and  in  several  in- 
stances the  cruisers  of  the  enemy  had  been 
captured  while  in  port  by  armed  citizens. 
The  colonial  government  had  empowered 
Washington,  as  commander  in  chief,  to  com- 
mission some  of  these  improvised  war  vessels 
of  the  colonies  to  attack,  in  the  service  of 
the  "  continent,"  the  transports  and  small 
cruisers  of  the  British,  in  order  to  secure 
powder  for  the  Continental  army.  It  was 
not,  however,  until  October  of   1775  that 


12  PAUL   JONES 

the  first  official  attempt  towards  the  forma- 
tion of  a  continental,  as  opposed  to  a  colonial, 
navy,  was  made.  The  large  merchant  marine 
put  at  the  disposal  of  the  new  government 
many  excellent  seamen  and  skippers  and  a 
good  number  of  ships,  few  of  them,  however, 
adapted  for  war.  To  build  regular  warships 
on  a  large  scale  was  impossible  for  a  nation 
so  badly  in  need  of  funds.  It  was  almost 
equally  difficult  to  secure  officers  trained  m 
naval  matters,  for  the  marine  captains,  al 
though  as  a  rule  good  seamen,  were  utterly 
lacking  in  naval  knowledge  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  organization. 

In  this  state  of  affairs  Paul  Jones  proved 
a  very  useful  man.  He  was  not  only  a 
thorough  seaman,  but  had  studied  the  art  of 
naval  warfare,  was  in  some  respects  ahead 
of  his  time  in  his  ideas  of  armament,  and 
was  familiar  with  the  organization  and  his- 
tory of  the  British  navy.  In  the  early  de- 
velopment of  our  navy  he  played,  therefore, 
an  important  part,  not  only  in  equipping  and 
arming  ships  for  immediate  service,  and  in 
determining   upon   the    most   effective  and 


EARLY   VOYAGES  13 

practicable  kind  of  vessels  to  be  built,  but 
also  in  laying  before  the  committee  a  state- 
ment of  the  necessary  requirements  for  naval 
officers. 

To  the  request  of  Congress  for  reports, 
Jones  answered  with  two  remarkable  docu- 
ments. One  was  a  long,  logical  argument 
in  favor  of  swift  frigates  of  a  certain  size, 
rather  than  ships  of  the  line,  and  showed 
thorough  knowledge,  not  only  of  naval  con- 
struction and  cost  of  building,  but  also  of 
the  general  international  situation,  and  the 
best  method  of  conducting  the  war  on  the 
sea.  On  the  latter  point  he  wrote :  "  Keep- 
ing such  a  squadron  in  British  waters, 
alarming  their  coasts,  intercepting  their 
trade,  and  descending  now  and  then  upon 
their  least  protected  ports,  is  the  only  way 
that  we,  with  our  slender  resources,  can 
sensibly  affect  our  enemy  by  sea-warfare." 
This  is  an  exact  outline  of  the  policy  which 
Jones  and  other  United  States  captains  actu- 
ally carried  out. 

Jones  also  made  the  statement,  wonder- 
fully foreshadowing  his  own    exploits    and 


14  PAUL   JONES 

their  effect,  that,  "  the  capture  ...  of  one 
or  two  of  their  crack  frigates  would  raise 
us  more  in  the  estimation  of  Europe,  where 
we  now  most  of  all  need  countenance,  than 
could  the  defeat  or  even  capture  of  one  of 
their  armies  on  the  land  here  in  America. 
And  at  the  same  time  it  would  fill  all  Eng- 
land with  dismay.  If  we  show  to  the  world 
that  we  can  beat  them  afloat  with  an  equal 
force,  ship  to  ship,  it  will  be  more  than  any- 
one else  has  been  able  to  do  in  modern 
times,  and  it  will  create  a  great  and  most 
desirable  sentiment  of  respect  and  favor 
towards  us  on  the  continent  of  Eui'ope, 
where  really,  I  think,  the  question  of  our 
fate  must  ultimately  be  determined. 

"  Beyond  this,  if  by  exceedmgly  desperate 
fighting,  one  of  our  ships  shall  conquer  one 
of  theirs  of  markedly  superior  force,  we 
shall  be  hailed  as  the  pioneers  of  a  new 
power  on  the  sea,  with  untold  prospects  of 
development,  and  the  prestige  if  not  th« 
substance  of  English  dominion  over  the 
ocean  will  be  forever  broken.  Happy,  in- 
deed, will  be  the  lot  of  the  American  cap- 


EARLY   VOYAGES  15 

tain  upon  whom  fortune  shall  confer  the 
honor  of  fighting  that  battle  !  " 

Jones  was  that  happy  captain,  for  both 
the  events  mentioned  as  highly  desirable  he 
brought  to  pass. 

In  the  report  on  the  qualifications  of  naval 
officers  Jones  showed  himself  to  be  quite 
abreast  of  our  own  times  in  the  philosophy 
of  naval  organization,  and,  moreover,  pos- 
sessed of  a  pen  quite  capable  of  expressing, 
always  with  clearness  and  dignity  and  some- 
times with  elegance,  the  fidl  maturity  of  his 
thought.  George  Washington,  one  of  whose 
great  quahties  was  the  power  to  know  men, 
read  this  report  of  Jones  and  said  :  "  Mr. 
Jones  is  clearly  not  only  a  master  mariner 
within  the  scope  of  the  art  of  navigation, 
but  he  also  holds  a  strong  and  profound 
sense  of  the  political  and  military  weight  of 
command  on  the  sea.  His  powers  of  useful- 
ness are  great  and  must  be  constantly  kept 
in  view." 

Jones  was  appointed  first  lieutenant  in 
the  navy  on  the  2  2d  of  December,  1775. 
He  was  sixth  on  the  list  of  appointees,  the 


16  PAUL   JONES 

other  five  being  made  captains.  Subsequent 
events  showed  that  Jones  would  have  been 
the  best  man  for  the  first  place.  He  thought 
so  himself,  but  hastened  on  board  his  ship 
to  serve  as  lieutenant,  and  was  the  first  man 
who  ever  hoisted  the  American  flag  on  a  man- 
of-war,  —  a  spectacular  trifle  that  gave  him 
much  pleasure. 


n 


CRUISES   OF  THE   PROVIDENCE   AND   THE 
ALFRED 

The  infant  squadron  of  the  United  States, 
under  the  command  of  Ezek  Hopkins,  con- 
sisting of  the  Alfred,  of  which  Jones  was 
the  first  lieutenant,  the  Columbus,  the  An- 
dria  Doria,  and  the  Cabot,  sailed  in  Febru- 
ary, 1776,  against  Fort  Nassau,  New  Provi- 
dence Island,  in  the  Bahamas.  The  only 
vessel  of  any  force  in  the  squadron  was  the 
AKred,  an  East  Indiaman,  which  Jones  had 
armed  with  twenty-four  nine-pounders  on 
the  gun-deck,  and  six  six-pounders  on  the 
quarter-deck.  The  only  officer  in  the  fleet 
who,  with  the  exception  of  Jones,  ever 
showed  any  ability  was  Nicholas  Biddle  of 
the  Doria.  The  expedition,  consequently, 
was  sufficiently  inglorious.  A  barren  de- 
scent was  made  on  New  Providence  Island, 
and  later  the   fleet  was  engaged  with  the 


18  PAUL  JONES 

British  sloop  of  war  Glasgow,  whicli,  in  spite 
of  the  odds  against  her,  seems  to  have  had 
the  best  of  the  encounter.  Jones  was  sta- 
tioned between  decks  to  command  the  Al- 
fred's first  battery,  which  he  trained  on  the 
enemy  with  his  usual  efficiency.  He  says  in 
his  journal  what  was  evidently  true  :  "  Mr. 
Jones,  therefore,  did  his  duty ;  and  as  he 
had  no  direction  whatever,  either  of  the  gen- 
eral disposition  of  the  squadron,  or  the  sails 
and  helm  of  the  Alfred,  he  can  stand  charged 
with  no  part  of  the  disgrace  of  that  night." 

A  number  of  courts-martial  resulted  from 
this  inept  affair  and  from  other  initial  mis- 
takes. Captain  Hazard  of  the  Providence,  a 
sloop  of  war  of  fourteen  guns  and  103  men, 
was  dismissed  from  the  service,  and  Jones 
was  put  in  command  of  the  ship.  '-'  This 
proves,"  said  Jones,  "that  Mr.  Jones  did  his 
duty  on  the  Providence  expedition." 

Jones  continued  to  do  his  duty  by  making 
a  niunber  of  energetic  descents  on  the  ene- 
my's shipping.  His  method  was  to  hunt  out 
the  merchant  vessels  in  harbor,  whence  they 
could  not  escape,  rather  than  to  search  for 


CRUISES   IN   WESTERN   WATERS    19 

them  on  the  open  sea.  In  June,  1776,  he 
cruised  in  the  Providence  from  Bermuda 
to  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  a  region  in- 
fested with  the  war  vessels  of  the  British, 
captured  sixteen  vessels,  made  an  attack  on 
Canso,  Nova  Scotia,  thereby  releasing  several 
American  prisoners,  burned  three  vessels  be- 
longing to  the  Cape  Breton  fishery,  and  in  a 
descent  on  the  Isle  of  Madame  destroyed 
several  fishing  smacks.  He  twice  escaped, 
through  superior  seamanship,  from  heavy 
English  frigates.  One  of  these  strong  frig- 
ates, the  Milford,  continued  to  fire  from  a 
great  distance,  after  the  little  Providence 
was  out  of  danger.  Of  this  Jones  wrote  : 
"  He  excited  my  contempt  so  much,  by  his 
continued  firing,  at  more  than  twice  the 
proper  distance,  that  when  he  rounded  to, 
to  give  his  broadside,  I  ordered  my  marine 
officer  to  return  the  salute  with  only  a  single 
musket." 

While  Jones  was  on  this  cruise  his  plan- 
tation was  ravaged  by  the  British  —  build- 
ings burned,  live  stock  destroyed,  and  slaves 
carried  off.     He  was  dependent  upon   the 


20  PAUL  JONES 

income  from  this  estate,  having  drawn  up 
to  that  time  only  £50  from  the  government, 
not  for  pay,  but  for  the  expense  of  enlisting 
seamen.  On  his  return  to  port  he  wrote  to 
Mr.  Hewes :  "  It  thus  appears  that  I  have 
no  fortune  left  but  my  sword,  and  no  pro- 
spect except  that  of  getting  alongside  the 
enemy." 

It  was  during  the  same  cruise  that  Jones, 
by  the  act  of  Congress  of  October  10, 1776, 
was  made  captain  in  the  United  States  navy, 
an  appointment  that  brought  him  more  bitter- 
ness of  spirit  than  pleasure,  for  he  was  only 
number  eighteen  in  the  list  of  appointees. 
This  was  an  injustice  which  Jones  never  for- 
got, and  to  which  he  referred  at  intervals  all 
through  his  life.  He  thought  he  ought  to 
have  been  not  lower  than  sixth  in  rank,  be- 
cause, by  the  law  of  the  previous  year,  there 
were  only  five  captains  ahead  of  him.  In 
the  mean  time,  too,  he  had  done  good  service, 
while  the  new  captains  ranking  above  him 
were  untried.  It  was  no  doubt  an  instance 
of  political  influence  outweighing  practical 
service,  and  Jones  was  entitled  to  feel  ag- 


CRUISES   IN   WESTERN   WATERS    21 

grieved,  —  a  privilege  he  was  not  likely  to 
forego.  Rank  was  to  him  a  passion,  not 
merely  because  it  would  enable  him  to  be 
more  effective,  but  for  its  own  sake.  He 
liked  all  the  signs  of  display,  —  busts,  epau- 
lets, medals,  marks  of  honor  of  all  kinds. 
"  How  near  to  the  heart,"  he  wrote,  "  of 
every  military  officer  is  rank,  which  opens 
the  door  to  glory !  " 

In  regard  to  this  appointment  he  wrote 
Thomas  Jefferson  a  bitter  and  sarcastic  let- 
ter. He  attributed  the  injustice  to  the  de- 
sire of  John  Adams  to  create  captains  from 
among  the  "  respectable  skippers  "  of  New 
England.  "  If  their  fate,"  he  wrote,  "  shall 
be  like  that  of  his  share  in  the  first  five  cap- 
tains last  year,  I  can  only  say  that  Mr. 
Adams  has  probably  provided  for  a  greater 
number  of  courts-martial  than  of  naval  vic- 
tories !  You  are  well  aware,  honored  sir, 
that  I  have  no  family  connections  at  my 
back,  but  rest  my  case  wholly  on  what  I 
do.  As  I  survey  the  list  of  twelve  captains 
who  have  been  newly  jumped  over  me  by 
the  act  of  October  10th,  I  cannot  help  see- 


22  PAUL   JONES 

ing  that  all  but  three  are  persons  of  high 
family  connection  in  the  bailiwick  of  Mr. 
Adams  !  " 

He  wrote,  at  this  time  and  later,  many- 
vehement  letters  about  these  "  skippers." 
To  Joseph  Hewes :  "  There  are  characters 
among  the  thirteen  on  the  list  who  are  tridy 
contemptible  —  with  such,  as  a  private  gen- 
tleman, I  would  disdain  to  sit  down  —  I 
would  disdain  to  be  acquainted.  .  .  .  Until 
they  give  proof  of  their  superior  ability,  I 
never  shall  acknowledge  them  as  my  senior 
officers  —  I  never  will  act  under  their  com- 
mand." He  wrote  to  Robert  Morris : 
"...  Nor  will  I  ever  draw  my  sword  under 
the  command  of  any  man  who  was  not  in 
the  service  as  early  as  myself,  unless  he  hath 
merited  a  preference  by  his  superior  services 
or  abilities."  In  these  and  similar  remarks, 
Jones  did  not  show  that  sense  of  absolute 
subordination  which  he  had  said,  in  his  re- 
port on  the  qualifications  of  naval  officers, 
was  of  prime  importance,  and  which  he 
strenuously  demanded  from  his  inferiors  in 
rank.     He  was  always  jealous  of  any  supe- 


CRUISES    IN    WESTERN    WATERS    23 

rior  in  his  own  line,  but,  fortunately,  after 
his  first  cruise,  he  was  always  the  ranking 
officer  on  his  ship. 

Jones  protested,  however,  without  avail, 
but  on  the  4th  of  November,  1776,  he  was 
put  in  command  of  the  Alfred,  and  with  the 
Providence  in  company  made  a  cruise  of 
about  a  month,  captured  seven  merchant  ships 
of  the  enemy,  several  of  them  carrying  valu- 
able supplies  to  the  army,  and  again  cleverly 
avoided  the  superior  British  frigates.  Com- 
plaining of  the  action  of  the  Providence, 
"  which  gave  him  the  slip  in  the  night,"  as 
he  put  it,  Jones  wrote  Hewes :  "  If  such 
doings  are  permitted,  the  navy  will  never 
rise  above  contempt !  .  .  .  the  aforesaid 
noble  captain  doth  not  understand  the  first 
case  of  plain  Trigonometry."  On  the  subject 
of  the  navy  he  wrote  Robert  Morris,  at  a 
later  period  :  "  The  navy  is  in  a  wretched 
condition.  It  wants  a  man  of  ability  at  its 
head  who  could  bring  on  a  purgation,  and  dis- 
tinguish between  the  abilities  of  a  gentleman 
and  those  of  a  mere  sailor  or  boatswain's 
mate."    In  still  another  letter :  "  If  my  feeble 


24  PAUL  JONES 

voice  is  heard  when  I  return  to  Philadelphia, 
our  navy  matters  will  assiune  a  better  face." 
Again,  as  late  as  1782,  he  wrote  Captain 
O'Neill :  "  I  am  altogether  in  the  dark  about 
what  has  been  done  to  reestablish  the  credit 
of  our  marine.  In  the  course  of  near  seven 
years'  service  I  have  continually  suggested 
what  has  occurred  to  me  as  most  likely  to 
promote  its  honor  and  render  it  serviceable ; 
but  my  voice  has  been  like  a  cry  in  the  wil- 
derness." 

After  his  return  from  the  cruise  in  the 
Alfred,  Jones  served  on  the  Board  of  Advice 
to  the  Marine  Committee,  and  was  very  use- 
ful in  many  ways.  He  urged  strongly  the 
necessity  of  making  a  cruise  in  European 
waters  for  the  sake  of  moral  prestige,  —  he, 
of  course,  to  be  in  command  of  the  squadron. 
His  energy  and  dashing  character  made  a 
strong  impression  on  Lafayette,  who  was 
then  in  the  country,  and  who  heartily  sup- 
ported Jones  in  the  projected  scheme. 
Lafayette  was  one  of  the  strongest  advocates 
for  an  alliance  between  the  colonies  and 
France,  and  believed  that  a  fleet  fitted  out  in 


CRUISES   IN    WESTERN   WATERS   25 

French  ports  under  the  United  States  flag 
would  not  only  help  out  the  weak  colonial 
navy,  but  would  precipitate  war  between 
Ens:land  and  France.  He  wrote  a  letter  to 
General  Washington  strongly  recommending 
Jones  as  leader  of  such  an  undertaking. 
About  the  same  time  Jones  had  an  inter- 
view with  Washington  to  appeal  against 
what  he  deemed  another  injustice.  The 
Trumbull,  one  of  the  fine  new  frigates  just 
completed  and  built  in  accordance  with 
Jones's  recommendations,  was  placed  under 
the  command  of  Captain  SaltonstaU,  who  had 
been  captain  of  the  Alfred  when  Jones  was 
first  lieutenant  of  the  same  ship,  and  against 
whom  the  latter  had  made  charges  of  incom- 
petence. Jones  did  not  get  the  Trumbull, 
but  the  interview  was  probably  instrumental 
in  procuring  an  order  from  the  Marine  Com- 
mittee for  Jones  to  enlist  seamen  for  a  Eu- 
ropean cruise.  On  June  14,  1777,  Congress 
appointed  him  to  the  command  of  the  sloop 
of  war  Ranger,  eighteen  guns,  and  on  the 
same  day  the  permanent  flag  of  the  United 
States    was    determined    upon.     Jones,    as 


26  PAUL  JONES 

usual,  saw  his  spectacular  opportunity  and 
said  :  "  That  flag  and  I  are  twins  ;  born  the 
same  hour  from  the  same  womb  of  destiny. 
We  cannot  be  parted  in  life  or  in  death.  So 
long  as  we  can  float,  we  shall  float  together. 
If  we  must  sink,  we  shall  go  down  as  one  !  " 

Jones,  with  the  Ranger,  sailed  for  France 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  November  1, 
1777,  bearing  with  him  dispatches  to  the 
American  commissioners,  the  news  of  Bur- 
goyne's  surrender,  and  instructions  from  the 
Marine  Committee  to  the  commissioners  to 
invest  him  with  a  fine  swift-sailing  frigate. 
On  his  arrival  at  Nantes  he  immediately  sent 
to  the  commissioners  —  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Silas  Deane,  and  Arthur  Lee  —  a  letter  de- 
veloping his  general  scheme  of  annoying  the 
enemy.  "  It  seems  to  be  our  most  natu- 
ral province,"  he  wrote,  "  to  surprise  their 
defenseless  places,  and  thereby  divert  their 
attention  and  draw  it  from  our  own  coasts." 

It  had  been  the  intention  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  give  Jones  the  Indien,  a  fine 
strong  frigate  building  secretly  at  Amster- 
dam.    But  this  proved  to  be  one  more  of 


CRUISES   IN   WESTERN    WATERS    27 

Jones's  many  disappointments,  for  the  Brit- 
ish minister  to  the  Netherlands  discovered 
the  destination  of  the  vessel  and  protested 
to  the  States-General.  The  result  was 
that  the  commissioners  were  forced  to  sell 
the  ship  to  France,  to  keep  her  out  of 
the  hands  of  England,  and  Jones  was  com- 
pelled to  make  his  invasion  in  the  Ranger. 
While  proceeding  in  this  little  sloop  to 
L' Orient,  for  the  purpose  of  fitting  her  out, 
he  met  the  great  French  fleet  and  demanded 
and  obtained  the  first  salute  ever  given  the 
United  States  flag  by  the  war  vessels  of  a 
foreign  power.  He  wrote  to  the  Marine 
Committee  triumphantly:  "I  am  happy 
in  having  it  in  my  power  to  congratulate 
you  on  my  having  seen  the  American  flag, 
for  the  first  time,  recognized  in  the  fullest 
and  completest  manner  by  the  flag  of  France. 
...  It  was  in  fact  an  acknowledgment 
of  American  independence."  As  the  se- 
cret treaty  between  France  and  the  United 
States  was  signed  about  that  time,  it  per- 
haps needed  less  than  the  pertinacity  of 
Paul  Jones  to  extract  a  salute  from  the  im- 


28  PAUL  JONES 

perial  fleet.  Shortly  before  sailing  on  his 
first  famous  cruise,  the  restless  man  sent 
Silas  Deane  a  letter  proposing  a  plan  of 
operations  for  the  French  fleet  in  the  com- 
ing war  with  England.  The  scheme  was 
for  the  superior  French  fleet  to  attack  the 
English  fleet  under  Lord  Howe,  and  destroy 
it  or  block  it  up  in  the  Delaware.  Jones 
said  in  his  journal  that  the  plan,  which  was 
adopted,  would  have  succeeded  if  it  had  been 
put  in  immediate  execution,  and  complained 
because  the  credit  of  the  scheme  had  been 
given  to  others. 

This  was  only  one  of  the  bits  of  business 
which  the  energetic  Jones  transacted  before 
he  sailed  in  the  Ranger  to  harass  England. 
He  wrote,  as  usual,  innumerable  letters, 
proposing,  condemning,  recommending.  He 
had  trouble  with  an  insubordinate  first  lieu- 
tenant. He  began,  too,  his  social  career  in 
France.  It  was  then  that  he  met  the 
Duchesse  de  Chartres,  great-granddaughter 
of  Louis  XIV.  and  mother  of  Louis  Philippe, 
who  at  a  later  time  called  Jones  the  Bayard 
of  the  Sea,  and  whom  Jones  at  that  time 


CRUISES   IN   WESTERN    WATERS    29 

promised  "  to  lay  an  English  frigate  at  her 
feet."  He  kept  his  word  in  spirit,  for  years 
afterwards  he  gave  her  the  sword  of  Captain 
Pearson,  commander  of  his  famous  prize,  the 
Serapis. 


Ill 

THE   CRUISE   OF  THE   RANGER 

Jones  started  on  his  cruise  in  the  Ranger 
April  10,  1778,  and,  after  taking  several 
unimportant  prizes  on  the  way  to  the  Irish 
Channel,  decided  to  make  a  descent  upon 
the  town  that  had  served  him  as  headquar- 
ters when  he  was  a  merchant  sailor,  White- 
haven, where  he  knew  there  were  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  merchant  ships,  which 
he  hoped  to  destroy ;  "  to  put  an  end,"  as 
he  said,  "by  one  good  fire,  in  England,  of 
shipping,  to  all  the  burnings  in  America." 

Owing  to  contrary  winds  Jones  was  un- 
able to  make  the  attack  until  midnight  of 
April  22.  His  daring  scheme  was,  with  the 
small  force  of  thirty-two  men  in  two  small 
boats,  to  land  in  a  hostile  port,  defended  by 
two  forts,  surprise  the  sleeping  inhabitants, 
and  burn  the  ships  before  the  people  could 
assemble   against   him.     By   the   time   the 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE  RANGER       31 

boats  reached  the  outer  pier,  day  had 
dawned  and  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  The 
forts  were  surprised  and  taken,  the  guns 
spiked  by  Jones  with  his  own  hand ;  but 
while  he  was  thus  occupied  his  officers  had 
failed  to  fire  the  shipping,  in  accordance 
with  his  orders.  Lieutenant  Wallingford 
stating  as  an  excuse  that  "  nothing  could  be 
gained  by  burning  poor  people's  property." 
Jones  thought  otherwise,  however ;  and 
although  the  townspeople  were  beginning  to 
assemble  in  consequence  of  the  pistols  that 
had  been  fired  in  capturing  the  forts,  he 
made  fire  in  the  steerage  of  a  large  ship, 
closely  surroimded  by  many  others,  and  an 
enormous  conflagration  ensued.  He  stood, 
pistol  in  hand,  near  the  burning  wreck,  and 
kept  off  the  constantly  increasing  crowd  un- 
til the  sun  was  an  hour  high,  when  he  and 
his  men  retired  to  the  Ranger,  taking  away 
with  them  three  of  the  captured  soldiers, 
"  as  a  sample,"  Jones  said,  and  followed  by 
the  eyes  of  the  gaping  multitude  of  English 
country  folk. 

Although   the   amoimt   of    property   de- 


32  PAUL  JONES 

stroyed  by  this  raid  was  small,  the  impor- 
tance of  it  was  considerable,  and  is  well 
stated  by  Jones  himself,  who,  if  proper  al- 
lowance is  made  for  the  effects  of  his  vanity, 
is,  as  a  rule,  his  own  best  biographer :  "  The 
moral  effect  of  it  was  very  great,"  he  writes, 
"  as  it  taught  the  English  that  the  fancied  se- 
curity of  their  coasts  was  a  myth,  and  thereby 
compelled  their  government  to  take  expen- 
sive measures  for  the  defense  of  numerous 
ports  hitherto  relying  for  protection  wholly 
on  the  vigilance  and  supposed  omnipotence 
of  their  navy.  It  also  doubled  or  more  the 
rates  of  insurance,  which  in  the  long  run 
proved  the  most  grievous  damage  of  all." 

On  the  same  day  Jones  made  a  descent 
on  the  estate  of  the  Earl  of  Selkirk,  near  his 
old  home  in  Kirkcudbright,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  carrying  off  the  earl  as  a  hostage. 
But  the  earl  was  not  at  home,  and  Jones 
consented,  he  says,  to  let  his  men,  mutinous 
and  greedy,  seize  the  Selkirk  family  plate, 
which  Jones  put  himseK  at  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  and  some  expense  to  restore  at  a 
later    date.       This   incident   is   interesting 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE   RANGER       33 

chiefly  as  it  was  the  cause  of  a  letter  illus- 
trative of  Jones's  character,  sent  by  him  to 
the  Countess  of  Selliirk,  who  was  present  at 
the  time  of  the  raid.  After  stating  in 
rather  inflatedly  polite  terms  that  he  could 
not  well  restrain  his  men  from  the  raid, 
Jones  promised  to  return  the  plate,  con- 
demned the  brutalities  of  the  English,  spoke 
of  the  horrors  of  war,  boasted  of  his  victory 
over  the  Drake  the  evening  following  the 
raid,  spoke  of  the  English  dead  and  his 
chivalrous  treatment  of  them,  —  "I  buried 
them  in  a  spacious  grave,  with  the  honors 
due  to  the  memory  of  the  brave,"  —  and 
then  made  the  following  rather  amusing 
statements :  "  Though  I  have  drawn  my 
sword  in  the  present  generous  struggle  for 
the  rights  of  men,  yet  I  am  not  in  arms  as 
an  American,  nor  am  I  in  pursuit  of  riches. 
My  fortune  is  liberal  enough,  having  no 
wife  nor  family,  and  having  lived  long 
enough  to  know  that  riches  cannot  secure 
happiness.  I  profess  myself  a  citizen  of  the 
world,  totally  unfettered  by  the  little  mean 
distinctions  of  climate  or  of  country,  which 


34  PAUL  JONES 

diminish  the  benevolence  of  the  heart  and 
set  bounds  to  philanthropy.  Before  this 
war  had  begun,  I  had,  at  an  early  time  of 
life,  withdrawn  from  sea  service  in  favor  of 
'calm  contem^^lation  and  poetic  ease.'  I 
have  sacrificed  not  only  my  favorite  scheme 
of  life,  but  the  softer  affections  of  the  heart 
and  my  prospects  of  domestic  happiness, 
and  I  am  ready  to  sacrifice  my  life  also  with 
cheerfulness  if  that  forfeiture  could  restore 
peace  among  mankind.  ...  I  hope  this 
cruel  contest  will  soon  be  closed ;  but  should 
it  continue,  I  wage  no  war  with  the  fair.  I 
acknowledge  their  force,  and  bend  before  it 
with  submission." 

Jones  was  probably  sincere  when  he  wrote 
that  letter,  although  it  is  full  of  misstate- 
ments. He  was  not  a  self-conscious  man 
and  did  not  analyze  his  motives  very  care- 
fully. He  always  posed,  with  perfect  sin- 
cerity, as  a  hero,  and  when  he  had  to  do 
with  a  distinguished  woman  his  exalted 
words  exactly  expressed,  no  doubt,  his  senti- 
ments. 

Jones's  next  exploit  was  the  famous  cap- 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE   RANGER       35 

ture  of  the  Drake  on  April  23.  Previous 
to  the  attack  on  Whitehaven,  while  off  Car- 
rickfergus,  he  had  conceived  the  bold  project 
of  running  into  Belfast  Loch,  where  the 
British  man-of-war  Drake,  of  twenty  guns, 
was  at  anchor ;  where  he  hoped  to  overlay  the 
Drake's  cable,  fall  foul  of  her  bow,  and  thus, 
with  her  decks  exposed  to  the  Ranger's  mus- 
ketry, to  board.  He  did,  indeed,  enter  the 
harbor  at  night,  but  failed  after  repeated 
efforts,  on  account  of  the  strong  wind,  to  get 
in  a  proper  position  to  board.  Three  days 
later,  after  the  Earl  of  Selkirk  affair,  Jones 
was  again  off  Carrickf ergus,  looking  for  the 
Drake,  which,  having  heard  of  his  devasta- 
tions from  the  alarmed  country  people,  sailed 
out  to  punish  the  invader  of  the  sacred  soil 
of  England.  The  two  sloops  of  war  were 
very  nearly  matched,  though  the  Drake  tech- 
nically rated  at  twenty  guns  and  the  Ranger  at 
eighteen.  When  they  came  within  range  of 
one  another  they  hoisted  their  colors  almost 
at  the  same  time,  but  the  Drake  hailed  :  — 

"What  ship  is  that?" 

Jones  directed  the  sailing-master  to  answer : 


36  PAUL  JONES 

"  The  American  Continental  ship  Ranger. 
We  are  waiting  for  you.  Come  on.  The 
sun  is  now  near  setting,  and  it  is  time  to 
begin." 

The  Ranger  then  opened  fire  with  a  f  idl 
broadside.  The  Drake  repHed  with  the  same, 
and  the  two  ships  ran  along  together  at  close 
quarters,  pouring  in  broadsides  for  more  than 
an  hour,  when  the  enemy  called  for  quarter. 
The  action  had  been,  as  Jones  said  in  his 
terse  official  report,  "  warm,  close,  and  obsti- 
nate." There  was  little  manoeuvring,  just 
straight  fighting,  the  victory  being  due,  ac- 
cording to  Jones,  to  the  superior  gunnery  of 
the  Americans.  At  first  Jones's  gunners 
hulled  the  Drake,  as  she  rolled,  below  the 
water-line,  but  Jones  desired  to  take  the  en- 
emy's ship  as  a  prize,  rather  than  to  sink  her, 
and  told  his  men  so. 

"  The  alert  fellows,"  he  said  in  a  letter  to 
Joseph  Hewes,  "  instantly  took  this  hint  and 
began  firing  as  their  muzzles  rose,  by  which 
practice  they  soon  crippled  the  Drake's  spars 
and  rigging,  and  made  her  an  unmanage- 
able log  on  the  water.     I  am  persuaded  that 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE   RANGER       37 

if  I  had  not  advised  them  to  this  effect,  my 
gunners  would  have  sunk  the  Drake  in  an 
hour  !  As  it  was,  we  had  to  put  spare  sails 
over  the  side  after  she  struck,  to  keep  her 
afloat,  and  careen  her  as  much  as  we  could 
the  next  day  to  plug  the  holes  they  had 
already  made  between  wind  and  water." 

The  Drake,  indeed,  was  almost  a  wreck, 
while  the  Ranger  was  little  injured.  Jones 
lost  only  two  men  killed  and  six  wounded, 
to  the  enemy's  approximate  loss  of  forty-two 
killed  and  wounded.  It  was  the  first  battle 
of  the  war  which  resulted  in  the  capture 
of  a  regidar  British  man-of-war  by  a  ship  of 
equal  if  not  inferior  force.  The  Drake  be- 
longed to  a  regularly  established  navy,  not 
accustomed  to  defeat.  Perhaps  that  fact  in- 
spired her  commander  with  overconfidence, 
but  McKenzie's  statement  of  the  cause  of  the 
victory  is  no  doubt  correct :  "  The  result," 
he  said,  "  was  eminently  due  to  the  skiU  and 
courage  of  Jones,  and  his  inflexible  resolution 
to  conquer."  That  resolution,  which  was 
indeed  a  characteristic  of  Jones,  reached  on 
at  least  one  occasion,  that  of  the  later  battle 


38  PAUL  JONES 

with   the   Serapis,   a  degree  of  inflexibility 
which  amounted  to  genius. 

The  effect  of  this  bold  cruise  was  great. 
Jones  had  not,  however,  been  the  only  Amer- 
ican captain,  by  any  means,  to  render  good 
service  in  destroying  the  commerce  of  the 
enemy  and  in  annoying  the  British  coast. 
Before  the  French  alliance  more  than  six 
hundred  British  vessels  fell  a  prey  to  Amer- 
ican cruisers,  mainly  privateers.  There  were, 
likewise,  captains  in  the  regular  United 
States  navy  who  had  before  this  cruise  of 
Jones's  borne  the  flag  to  Europe.  The  first 
of  these  was  the  gallant  Wickes,  in  the 
summer  of  1777.  Though  Jones  was  not 
the  first  captain,  therefore,  to  make  a  bril- 
liant and  destructive  cruise  in  the  English 
Channel,  he  was  nevertheless  the  first  to  in- 
spire terror  among  the  inhabitants  by  in- 
cursions inshore.  The  cruise  of  the  little 
Ranger  showed  that  the  British,  when  they 
ravaged  the  coast  of  New  England,  might 
expect  effective  retaliation  on  their  own 
shores ;  and  the  capture  of  the  Drake  inspired 
France,  then  about  to  take  arms  in  support 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE   RANGER       39 

of  the  American  cause,  by  the  realization  of 
what  they  themselves  had  longed  to  do  —  to 
wotst  England  on  the  high  seas  —  with  in- 
creased respect  for  their  allies.  It  filled 
Great  Britain  with  wild,  exaggerated,  and 
unjust  condemnation  of  Paul  Jones,  who  has 
been  looked  upon  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  and  is  even  to-day  in  England,  by  so- 
ber historians,  as  a  bloody-handed,  desperate 
buccaneer.  The  persistent  charge,  often  of 
late  refuted,  hardly  needs  refutation,  in  view 
of  the  well-authenticated  fact  that  Jones 
never  served  on  a  war  vessel  except  under  a 
regular  commission.  Moreover,  he  was  a 
man  too  ambitious  and  too  sensible  to  hurt 
his  prospects  by  being  anything  so  low  and 
undistinguished  as  a  pirate. 

After  the  battle  with  the  Drake,  Jones 
saw  that  he  would  have  to  bring  the  cruise 
to  a  close.  His  crew  of  139  men  had,  through 
the  necessity  of  manning  the  several  mer- 
chant prizes  and  the  Drake,  been  reduced  to 
eighty-six  men,  and  he  consequently  put  into 
Brest,  reluctantly,  on  the  8th  of  May,  1778. 
He  was  there  met  by  the  great  French  fleet, 


40  PAUL  JONES 

then  actually  at  war  with  England,  and  he  and 
his  prize  were  admired  by  Aasiting  French 
officers.  From  that  time  Jones,  hated  in 
England,  was  a  hero  in  France,  feted  when- 
ever he  was  at  the  capital,  and  favored  by 
fair  ladies. 

He  was  a  hero,  however,  with  a  thorny 
path  all  through  life.  He  arrived  at  Brest 
with  a  miserably  clothed,  wholly  unpaid, 
discontented,  and  partly  mutinous  crew. 
During  the  voyage  his  first  lieutenant, 
Sunpson,  had  stirred  up  dissatisfaction 
among  the  men,  and  had  refused  to  obey 
orders,  for  which  Jones  had  him  put  in  irons. 
The  unpaid  men,  not  assigning  their  troubles 
to  the  true  but  unseen  cause,  the  poverty 
of  the  government,  easily  believed  that  their 
captain  was  responsible  for  all  their  ills. 
Under  no  conditions,  however,  was  Jones 
likely  to  be  popular  with  the  greater  number 
of  his  men,  for  the  energetic  man  was  bent 
on  making  them,  as  well  as  himself,  work  for 
glory  to  the  uttermost,  and  the  common  run 
of  seamen  care  more  for  ease  and  pelf  than 
for  fame.     Jones's  unpopularity    with   the 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE  RANGER       41 

crew  of  the  Ranger  is  attested  by  a  passage 
from  the  diary  of  Ezra  Green,  one  of  Jones's 
officers,  on  the  occasion,  at  a  later  period, 
of  the  Ranger's  sailing  back  to  America : 
"  This  day  Thomas  Simpson,  Esq.,  came 
on  board  with  orders  to  take  command  of 
the  Ranger ;  to  the  joy  and  satisfaction  of 
the  whole  ship's  company." 

With  the  impidsive  inconsistency  which, 
in  spite  of  his  shrewdness,  sometimes  marked 
his  conduct,  Jones  alternately  demanded  a 
court-martial  for  Simpson  and  reconunended 
him  to  the  command  of  the  Ranger,  he  him- 
self hoping  for  a  more  important  vessel ;  it 
was  Jones's  own  conduct,  as  much  as  any 
other  circumstance,  which  finally  resulted  in 
the  sailing  away  of  the  Ranger  under  the 
mutinous  Simpson.  With  the  frankness 
customary  with  him  when  not  writing  to 
anybody  particularly  distinguished,  Jones 
wrote  Simpson,  at  one  stage  of  their  quarrel : 
"  The  trouble  with  you,  Mr.  Simpson,  is  that 
you  have  the  heart  of  a  lion  and  the  head  of 
a  sheep." 

Even  more  annoying  to  the  imperious  and 


42  PAUL  JONES 

high-handed  Jones  than  the  trouble  with 
Simpson  was  the  manner  in  which,  on  his 
arrival  at  Brest,  the  commissioners  refused 
to  honor  his  draft  for  24,000  livres.  He 
held  a  letter  of  credit  authorizing  him  to 
draw  on  the  commissioners  for  money  to 
defray  necessary  expenses;  but  instead  of 
dealing  with  the  regular  American  agent  at 
Brest,  he  placed  his  order  with  a  Brest  mer- 
chant, who,  when  Jones's  draft  was  returned 
dishonored,  stopped  his  supplies.  Jones 
thereupon  wrote  the  commissioners ;  "  I  know 
not  where  or  how  to  provide  food  for  to-mor- 
row's dinner  to  feed  the  great  number  of 
mouths  that  depend  on  me  for  food.  Are 
then  the  Continental  ships  of  war  to  depend 
on  sale  of  their  prizes  for  the  daily  dinner  of 
their  men  ?     Publish  it  not  '  in  Gath ' !  " 

He  then,  without  authority,  but  very  pos- 
sibly forced  by  the  necessities  of  his  crew, 
sold  one  of  his  prizes,  with  the  money  from 
which  he  paid  the  Brest  merchant.  Of  this 
act  he  said :  "I  coidd  not  waste  time  dis- 
cussing questions  of  authority  when  my  crew 
and  prisoners  were  starving." 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE   RANGER       43 

The  point  of  view  of  the  commissioners  is 
tersely  expressed  in  a  letter  from  them  to  the 
French  Minister  of  Marine,  de  Sartine,  June 
15,  1778  :  "  We  think  it  extremely  irregu- 
lar ..  .  in  captains  of  ships  of  war  to  draw 
for  any  sums  they  please  without  previous 
notice  and  express  permission.  .  .  .  Captain 
Jones  has  had  of  us  near  a  hundred  thousand 
livres  for  such  purposes  [necessaries]." 

The  frugahty  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  the 
most  important  commissioner,  is  well  known, 
and  also  the  financial  straits  of  the  country 
at  that  time.  That  Jones  was  in  a  difficult 
position  at  Brest  is  certain,  and  he  perhaps 
asked  for  no  more  than  he  needed.  But 
that  he  was  naturally  inclined  to  extravagant 
expenditure  there  can  be  no  doubt, — a  fact 
that  will  appear  saliently  in  a  later  stage  of 
this  narrative. 


IV 

EFFORTS    IN    FRANCE   TO    SECURE   A 
COMMAND 

War  having  broken  out  between  England 
and  France,  Jones  was  detained  in  Europe, 
instead  of  sailing  home  in  the  Ranger,  through 
the  request  of  the  French  Minister  of  Marine, 
de  Sartine,  who  wished  an  important  com- 
mand to  be  assigned  to  the  famous  conqueror 
of  the  Drake.  The  difficulties,  however,  in 
the  way  of  doing  so  were  great.  The  com- 
missioners had  few  resources,  and  one  of 
them,  Arthur  Lee,  was  hostile  to  Jones. 
Moreover  the  French  government  naturally 
thought  first  of  its  own  officers,  of  whom 
there  were  too  many  for  the  available  vessels. 
Several  privateering  expeditions  were  sug- 
gested to  Jones,  which  he  quite  justly  rejected. 
Several  opportunities  had  also  been  given 
him  for  small  commands,  which  he  had  like- 
wise rejected.     His  manner  in  doing  so  could 


TRIES    TO    GET   A    COMMAND        45 

not  exactly  be  called  diplomatic.  He  wrote 
M.  Chaumont,  that  patriotic  and  benevolent 
gentleman  whom  Jones  alternately  flattered 
and  reviled,  a  rather  typical  letter  :  "  I  wish 
to  have  no  connection  with  any  ship  that  does 
not  sail  fast ;  for  I  intend  to  go  in  harm^s 
way.  You  know,  I  believe,  that  this  is  not 
every  one's  intention.  Therefore  buy  a  frig- 
ate that  sails  fast,  and  that  is  sufficiently 
large  to  carry  twenty-six  or  twenty-eight  guns 
on  one  deck.  I  would  rather  be  shot  ashore 
than  sent  to  sea  in  such  things  as  the  armed 
prizes  I  have  described." 

The  innumerable  delays  which  conse- 
quently intervened  between  his  arrival  at 
Brest,  in  May,  1778,  and  his  departure  on  his 
next  cruise  a  year  later,  in  June,  1779,  put 
the  active  Scotchman  in  a  state  of  constant 
irritation.  He  continued  his  dunning  cor- 
respondence with  the  greatest  energy,  alter- 
nately cajoling,  proposing,  complaining,  beg- 
ging to  be  sent  on  some  important  enterprise. 
He  wrote  innumerable  letters  to  de  Sartine, 
Franklin,  the  Due  de  Rochefoucauld,  de 
Chaumont,  and  many  others,  and  finally  to  the 


46  PAUL  JONES 

king  himself,  with  whom  he  afterwards  had 
an  interview.  The  statement  of  his  wrongs 
in  his  letter  to  the  king,  reiterated  in  letters 
to  many  others,  involves  an  account  of  the 
many  promises  de  Sartine  had  made  and 
broken,  and  of  Jones's  various  important  pro- 
posals for  the  public  good,  which  had  been 
slighted. 

"  Thus,  sire,"  he  writes,  "  have  I  been 
chained  down  to  shameful  inactivity  for 
nearly  five  months.  I  have  lost  the  best 
season  of  the  year  and  such  opportunities  of 
serving  my  country  and  acquiring  honor  as 
I  can  hardly  expect  again  in  this  war ;  and 
to  my  infinite  mortification,  having  no  com- 
mand, I  am  considered  everywhere  an  officer 
cast  off  and  in  disgrace  for  secret  reasons." 

Jones's  pertinacity  and  perseverance  in 
working  for  a  command  are  quite  on  a  par 
with  his  indomitable  resolution  in  battle,  and 
he  was  finally  rewarded,  probably  through 
the  king's  direct  order,  by  being  put  in 
command  of  a  small  squadron,  with  which 
he  made  the  cruise  resulting  in  the  capture 
of  the  Serapis  and  in  his  own  fame. 


TRIES  TO  GET  A  COMMAND  47 

Jones  was  higUy  delighted  with  the  ap- 
pointment, but  his  troubles  continued  in  fidl 
measure,  and  to  all  his  troubles  Jones  gave 
wide  and  frequent  publicity.  All  the  ships 
of  his  squadron,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Alhance,  were  French,  largely  officered  and 
manned  by  Frenchmen.  The  expense  of 
fitting  out  the  expedition  was  the  king's. 
The  flag  and  the  commissions  of  the  officers 
were  American.  The  object  of  the  French 
government  was  to  secure  the  services  of  the 
marauding  Jones  against  the  coasts  and  ship- 
ping of  England.  This  could  better  be  done 
under  the  United  States  flag  than  under 
that  of  France  ;  for  the  rides  of  civilized  war- 
fare had  up  to  that  time  prevented  the 
British  from  ravaging  the  coasts  of  France 
as  they  had  those  of  rebel  America,  and 
France  was  therefore  not  morally  justified 
in  harassing  the  English  shipping  and  coasts 
directly ;  as,  on  the  principle  of  retaliation, 
it  was  fair  for  America  to  do. 

This  pecuhar  character  of  the  expedition 
brought  with  it  many  drawbacks  and  diffi- 
culties for  the  unfortunate  Jones.     He  had 


48  PAUL  JONES 

a  motley  array  of  sliips,  —  those  which  were 
left  over  after  the  French  officers  had  been 
satisfied.  The  flagship,  the  Bonhomme  Rich- 
ard, was  a  worn-out  old  East  Indiaman, 
which  Jones  refitted  and  armed  with  six 
eighteen  -  pounders,  twenty  -  eight  twelve- 
pounders,  and  eight  nine-pounders  —  a  bat- 
tery of  forty-two  guns.  The  crew  of  375,  of 
many  nationalities,  contained,  when  the  fleet 
sailed,  only  about  fifty  Americans  ;  but  for- 
tunately, a  few  days  later,  Jones  was  com- 
pelled to  put  back  to  port,  where  he  was 
unexpectedly  able,  owing  to  a  recent  ex- 
change of  prisoners,  to  get  rid  of  some  of 
his  aliens,  and  to  secure  114  American  offi- 
cers and  sailors,  who  proved  to  be  the  back- 
bone of  the  Richard's  crew.  The  Alliance, 
the  only  American  ship,  was  a  good  frigate 
rating  as  a  large  thirty-two  or  medium 
thirty-six,  but  captained  by  a  mad  French- 
man in  the  American  service,  Landais,  who 
refused  to  obey  Jones,  and  in  the  important 
fight  with  the  Serapis  turned  his  guns  against 
his  commander.  The  PaUas,  thirty-two  guns, 
the  Vengeance,  twelve  guns,  and  the  little 


TRIES  TO  GET  A  COMMAND  49 

Cerf  were  all  officered  and  manned  by 
Frenchmen. 

The  greatest  hindrance,  however,  to  the 
efficiency  of  the  squadron  was  the  famous 
concordat^  or  agreement  between  the  cap- 
tains, which  Jones  was  compelled  to  sign 
just  before  sailing.  The  terms,  indeed, 
which  related  largely  to  the  distribution  of 
prize  money,  left  Jones  in  the  position  of 
commander  in  chief,  but  the  fact  that  there 
was  any  agreement  whatever  between  Jones 
and  his  subordinates  weakened  his  authority. 
Of  this,  as  of  so  many  other  injustices,  Jones 
complained  most  bitterly  all  through  his  sub- 
sequent life.  He  signed  it,  however,  because, 
he  said  in  his  journal,  he  feared  that  he 
would  otherwise  be  removed  from  his  posi- 
tion as  commodore.  In  a  letter  to  Hewes  he 
gave  Franklin's  command  as  the  cause. 

The  squadron,  accompanied  at  the  outset 
by  two  French  privateers,  sailed  finally  from 
L' Orient,  after  one  futile  attempt,  August 
14,  1779,  and  made  during  the  first  forty 
days  of  the  fifty  days'  cruise  a  number  of 
unimportant  prizes.     On  the   18th  of   Au- 


60  PAUL  JONES 

gust,  the  privateer  Monsieur,  which  was  not 
bound  by  the  concordat^  took  a  prize,  which 
the  captain  of  the  Monsieur  rifled,  and  then 
ordered  into  port.  Jones,  however,  opposed 
the  captain's  order,  and  sent  the  prize  to 
L'Orient,  whereupon  the  Monsieur  parted 
company  with  the  squadron.  According  to 
Fanning,  one  of  Jones's  midshipmen,  who 
has  left  a  spirited  account  of  the  cruise, 
Jones  attempted  to  prevent  the  departure  of 
the  privateer  by  force,  and  when  she  escaped 
was  so  angry  that  he  "  struck  several  of  his 
officers  with  his  speaking  trmnpet  over  their 
heads,"  and  confiined  one  of  them  below,  but 
immediately  afterwards  invited  him  to  din- 
ner. "  Thus  it  was  with  Jones,"  says  Fan- 
ning, "  passionate  to  the  highest  degree  one 
minute,  and  the  next  ready  to  make  a  recon- 
cihation." 

The  defection  of  the  Monsieur  was,  how- 
ever, only  the  beginning  of  Jones's  troubles 
with  the  insubordinate  officers.  While  at- 
tempting to  capture  a  brigantine,  Jones, 
through  the  desertion  of  some  of  his  English 
sailors,  lost  two  of  his  small  boats,  for  which 


TRIES  TO  GET  A  COMMAND  51 

he  was  bitterly  and  unjustly  reproached  by 
the  crazy,  incompetent,  and  gi'eedy  Landais, 
captain  of  the  Alliance,  who  said  that  here- 
after he  would  chase  in  the  manner  he  saw 
fit.  Shortly  afterwards,  the  Cerf  abruptly 
left  the  fleet,  and  the  other  privateer  also 
went  off  on  its  own  account.  Jones  was  left 
with  only  the  Bonhomme  Richard,  the  Pal- 
las, the  Vengeance,  and  the  Alliance ;  and 
it  would  have  been  better,  as  the  result 
showed,  if  the  last-mentioned  vessel  and  its 
extraordinary  captain  had  also  decamped  at 
this  time  for  good.  Landais  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  Jones's  signals,  but  left  the  squadron 
for  days,  unfortunately  returning.  Against 
Jones's  orders  he  sent  two  prizes  into  Ber- 
gen, Norway,  where  they  were  given  by  the 
Danish  government  to  the  English,  and  were 
for  many  years  after  the  war  a  source  of 
trouble  between  Denmark  and  the  United 
States. 

Jones  was  also  compelled  to  treat  with 
the  other  French  captains,  and  several  times 
modified  his  course  in  compliance  with  their 
demands.     He  had  formed  a  daring  design 


52  PAUL  JONES 

to  lay  Leith,  on  the  coast  of  Scotland,  and 
perhaps  Edinburgh,  under  contribution,  but 
first  he  had  to  argue  the  matter  with  his 
captains.  Fanning  says  :  "  Jones  displayed 
so  artfully  his  arguments  in  favor  of  his 
plan  that  it  was  agreed  pretty  unanimously 
to  put  it  in  immediate  execution."  Jones's 
art  was  manifested  in  this  instance,  accord- 
ing to  liis  account,  by  showing  the  cap- 
tains "  a  large  heap  of  gold  at  the  end  of 
the  prospect."  During  this  enforced  con- 
ference, however,  the  wind  shifted,  and  the 
undertaking  had  to  be  given  up.  Fanning 
quaintly  remarks  :  "  All  his  [Jones's]  vast 
projects  of  wealth  and  aggrandizement  be- 
came at  once  a  shadow  that  passeth  away, 
never  more  to  appear  again !  " 

Jones,  however,  said  that  he  would  have 
succeeded,  even  at  this  late  hour,  if  his  plan 
had  been  followed,  and  showed  a  touch 
of  the  weak  side  of  his  character  when  he 
added :  "  Nothing  prevented  me  from  pur- 
suing my  design  but  the  reproach  that  would 
have  been  cast  upon  my  character,  as  a  man 
of  prudence,  had  the  enterprise  miscarried. 


TRIES  TO  GET  A  COMMAND  53 

It  would  have  been  said :  '  Was  he  not  fore- 
warned by  Captain  Cottineau  and  others  ? '  " 

With  liis  old  ship,  his  motley  squadron, 
and  his  insubordinate  officers,  Jones  then 
cruised  along  the  Yorkshire  coast,  destroyed 
or  captured  a  number  of  vessels,  and  was 
preparing  to  end  his  voyage  at  the  Texel, 
Holland,  when  chance  threw  in  his  way  the 
opportunity  which  he  so  greatly  embraced. 

On  the  23d  of  September  the  squadron 
was  chasing  a  ship  off  Flamborough  Head, 
when  the  Baltic  fleet  of  merchantmen,  for 
which  Jones  had  been  looking,  hove  in  sight. 
The  commodore  hoisted  the  signal  for  a  gen- 
eral chase.  Landais,  however,  ignored  the 
signal  and  went  off  by  himself.  The  mer- 
chant ships,  when  they  saw  Jones's  squadron 
bearing  down  upon  them,  made  for  the  shore 
and  escaped,  protected  by  two  ships  of  war, 
frigates,  which  stood  out  and  made  prepara- 
tions to  fight,  in  order  to  save  their  convoy. 

These  British  ships  of  war  were  the  Sera- 
pis,  a  new  frigate  of  forty-four  guns,  and 
the  Countess  of  Scarborough,  twenty  guns. 
The  Alliance,  at  that  time,  which  was  late 


54  PAUL  JONES 

in  the  afternoon,  was  not  in  sight,  and  the 
little  Vengeance,  which  had  been  sent  to 
look  for  Landais,  was  also  not  available. 
There  were,  therefore,  two  ships  on  each 
side,  and  Jones  ordered  Captain  Cottineau, 
of  the  Pallas,  to  look  after  the  Countess  of 
Scarborough,  while  he  himself  took  care  of 
the  Serapis.  Jones  never  lost  his  head  in 
action,  and  yet  he  decided,  with  that  "  cool, 
determined  bravery,"  of  which  Benjamin 
Franklin  spoke,  and  with  "  that  presence  of 
mind  which  never  deserted  him  "  in  action, 
recorded  by  Fanning,  to  engage  a  ship 
known  by  him  to  be  the  superior  of  the 
Bonhomme  Richard  in  almost  every  respect. 
It  has  been  said  of  Jones  by  one  who  fought 
with  him  that  only  in  battle  was  he  abso- 
lutely at  ease  :  only  at  times  of  comparative 
inaction,  when  he  could  not  exert  himself 
fully,  was  he  restless  and  irritable.  On  tliis 
occasion  he  joyfully  engaged  a  ship  which 
threw  a  weight  of  metal  superior  to  his  by 
three  to  two,  that  sailed  much  faster,  and 
was  consequently  at  an  advantage  in  ma^ 
noeuvring  for  position,  and  that  had  a  crew 


TRIES  TO  GET  A  COMMAND  55 

equal  to  that  of  Jones  in  numbers,  and  far 
more  disciplined  and  homogeneous.  A  battle 
resulted  which  for  desperate  fighting  has 
never  been  excelled,  and  perhaps  never 
equaled  on  the  sea. 


THE   FIGHT   WITH   THE   SERAPIS 

Jones  crowded  on  all  possible  sail,  and 
the  Bonhonune  Richard  came  within  pistol 
shot  of  the  Serapis.  It  was  seven  o'clock  of 
a  fine  moonlight  night.  Captain  Pearson, 
of  the  British  ship,  then  hailed,  and  was 
answered  with  a  whole  broadside  from  the 
Bonhomme  Richard,  an  unfriendly  salute 
which  was  promptly  returned  by  the  British 
ship. 

From  the  beginning  the  fight  seemed  to 
go  against  the  Bonhomme  Richard.  There 
was  hardly  any  stage  of  the  tlu'ee  and  a  half 
hours'  desperate  combat  when  Jones  might 
not,  with  perfect  propriety,  have  surrendered. 
Hardly  had  the  battle  begun  when  two  of 
the  six  old  eighteen-pounders  forming  the  bat- 
tery of  the  lower  gun-deck  of  the  Richard 
exploded,  killing  the  men  working  them  and 
rendering  the  whole  battery  useless  for  the 


FIGHT  WITH  THE  SERAPIS  57 

rest  of  the  action.  Captain  Pearson,  per- 
ceiving; liis  advantage  in  speed  and  power  of 
shot,  attempted  again  and  again  to  pass  the 
bow  of  the  Richard  and  rake  her.  Jones's 
whole  effort,  on  the  other  hand,  was  to  close 
with  the  Serapis  and  board,  knowing  that  it 
was  only  a  question  of  time  when,  in  a 
broadside  fight,  the  Richard  would  be  sunk. 
After  the  broadsiding  had  continued  with 
unremitting  fury  for  about  three  quarters  of 
an  hour,  and  several  of  the  Richard's  twelve- 
pounders  also  had  been  put  out  of  action, 
Captain  Pearson  thought  he  saw  an  oppor- 
tunity, the  Serapis  having  veered  and  drawn 
ahead  of  the  Richard,  to  luff  athwart  the 
latter' s  hawse  and  rake  her.  But  he  at- 
tempted the  manoeuvre  too  soon,  and  perceiv- 
ing that  the  two  ships  would  be  brought 
together  if  he  persisted  in  his  course,  he  put 
his  helm  alee,  bringing  the  two  vessels  in  a 
line ;  and  the  Serapis  having  lost  her  head- 
way by  this  evolution,  the  Richard  ran  into 
her  weather  quarter.  Jones  was  quick  to 
make  his  first  attempt  to  board,  but  he 
could  not  mass  enough  men  at  the  point  of 


58  PAUL  JONES 

contact  to  succeed,  and  tlie  ships  soon  swung 
apart. 

The  Richard,  even  at  this  early  stage  of 
the  action,  was  in  a  deplorable  condition. 
Little  of  her  starboard  battery  was  left. 
Henry  Gardner,  a  gunner  during  the  action, 
stated  in  his  account  of  the  battle  that,  at 
this  time,  of  the  140  odd  officers  and  men 
stationed  in  the  main  gim-deck  battery  at 
the  beginning,  over  eighty  were  killed  or 
wounded.  There  were  three  or  four  feet  of 
water  in  the  hold,  caused  by  the  Serapis's 
eighteen-pound  shot,  which  had  repeatedly 
pierced  the  hull  of  the  Richard. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Captain  Pearson, 
knowing  that  his  enemy  was  hard  put  to  it, 
thought,  after  the  failure  to  board,  that 
Jones  was  ready  to  surrender, 

"  Has  your  ship  struck  ?  "  he  called,  and 
Jones  made  his  famous  reply  :  — 

"  I  have  not  yet  begun  to  fight." 

That  Jones  really  made  some  such  reply, 
there  is  no  doubt.  Certainly,  it  was  charac- 
teristic enough.  Jones  fought  all  his  life, 
and  yet  when  he  died  he  had  hardly  begun 


FIGHT  WITH  THiE  SERAPIS  59 

the  conflict,  so  many  of  his  ambitious  pro- 
jects  remained  unrealized. 

When   the   ships   had   swung   apart,  the 
broadsiding  continued,  increasingly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Serapis.     Had  not  a  lucky 
wind,  favorable  to  the   Richard,  arisen  at 
this  point,  doubtless  her  time  above  water 
would  have  been  short.     The  veering  and 
freshening  breeze  enabled  the  Richard  to 
blanket   the    enemy's    vessel,   which   conse- 
quently lost  her  headway,  and  another  for- 
tunate puff  of  wind  brought  the  Richard  in 
contact  with  the  Serapis  in  such  a  way  that 
the  two  vessels  lay  alongside  one  another, 
bow  to   stern,  and   stern   to  bow.      Jones, 
with  his  own  hand,  helped  to  lash  the  two 
ships  together.     The  anchor  of  the  Serapis 
fortunately  hooked  the  quarter  of  the  Rich- 
ard,  thus   binding    the    frigates   still  more 
firmly  together. 

During  the  critical  time  when  Jones  was 
bending  every  nerve  to  grapple  with  the 
Serapis,  the  Alliance  made  her  first  appear- 
ance,  poured  a  broadside  or  two  into  the 
Richard,  and  disappeared.    Of  this  remark- 


60  PAUL  JONES 

able  deed  Jones  wrote  to  Dr.  Franklin : 
"  At  last  the  Alliance  appeared,  and  I  now 
thought  the  battle  at  an  end ;  but  to  my 
utter  astonishment  he  discharged  a  broad- 
side full  into  the  stern  of  the  Bon  Homme 
Richard."  It  is  probable  that  the  Serapis 
also  suffered  from  Landais's  attack,  but  not 
so  much  as  the  Richard,  which  lay  between 
the  other  two  ships. 

After  the  Serapis  and  the  Richard  had 
been  well  lashed  together,  there  began  a  new 
phase  of  the  battle,  which  had  already  lasted 
about  an  hour.  There  were  only  three  guns 
left  in  action  on  the  Richard,  nine-pounders 
on  the  quarter-deck,  and  the  ship  was  badly 
leaking.  The  eighteen-pounders  of  the  enemy 
had  riddled  the  gun-deck  of  the  American 
ship,  rendering  her,  below-decks,  entirely 
untenable.  The  real  fight  from  this  time 
to  the  end  was  consequently  above-decks. 
Jones  abandoned  any  attempt  at  great  gun 
fire,  except  by  the  thi-ee  small  pieces  on  the 
quarter-deck,  drew  practically  his  entire  re- 
maining crew  from  below  to  the  upper  deck 
and  the  tops,  and  devoted  his  attention  to 


FIGHT  WITH  THE  SERAPIS  61 

sweeping  the  decks  of  the  enemy  by  the 
musketry  of  his  French  marines  from  the 
quarter  and  poop  decks,  and  of  the  Ameri- 
can sailors  in  the  tops.  The  crew  of  the 
Serapis,  on  the  other  hand,  were  forced 
mainly  to  take  refuge  in  their  well-protected 
lower  decks,  from  which  they  continued  to 
fire  their  great  guns  into  the  already  riddled 
hull  and  lower  decks  of  the  Kichard. 

After  the  juncture  of  the  vessels  Captain 
Pearson  made  several  desperate  attempts  to 
cut  the  anchor  loose,  hoping  in  that  way  to 
become  free  again  of  the  Richard,  in  which 
case  he  knew  that  the  battle  was  his.  Jones, 
of  course,  was  equally  determined  to  defend 
the  anchor  fastenings.  He  personally  di- 
rected the  fire  of  his  French  marines  asrainst 
the  British  in  their  repeated  attempts  to 
sever  the  two  ships,  to  such  good  purpose 
that  not  a  single  British  sailor  reached  the 
coveted  goal.  So  determined  was  Jones  on 
this  important  point  that  he  took  loaded 
muskets  from  the  hands  of  his  French  ma- 
rines and  shot  down  several  of  the  British 
with  his  own  hand. 


62  PAUL  JONES 

The  captain  of  the  French  marines,  who 
rendered  at  this  important  stage  of  the  ac- 
tion such  good  service,  had  been  wounded 
early  in  the  battle,  and  the  succeeding 
lieutenants  had  also  been  either  killed  or 
disabled.  The  marines  had  been  greatly 
diminished  in  numbers  and  were  much  dis- 
heartened at  the  time  Jones  took  personal 
command  of  them.  Nathaniel  Fanning  viv- 
idly narrates  the  manner  in  which  Jones 
handled  these  Frenchmen :  "I  could  dis- 
tinctly hear,  amid  the  crashing  of  the  mus- 
ketry, the  great  voice  of  the  commodore, 
cheering  the  French  marines  in  their  own 
tongue,  uttering  such  imprecations  upon  the 
enemy  as  I  never  before  or  since  heard  in 
French  or  any  other  language,  exhorting 
them  to  take  good  aim,  pointing  out  objects 
for  their  fire,  and  frequently  giving  them 
direct  example  by  taking  their  loaded  mus- 
kets from  their  hands  into  his  and  firing 
himseK.  In  fact,  toward  the  very  last,  he 
had  about  him  a  group  of  half  a  dozen 
marines  who  did  nothing  but  load  their  fire- 
locks and  hand  them    to    the   commodore, 


FIGHT  WITH  THE   SERAPIS         63 

who  fired  them  from  his  own  shoulder, 
standing  on  the  quarter-deck  rail  by  the 
main  topmast  backstay." 

A  French  sailor,  Pierre  Gerard,  who  has 
left  a  memoir  of  the  battle,  tells  how  his 
countrymen  responded  to  Jones's  presence  : 
"  Commodore  Jones  sprang  among  the  shak- 
ing marines  on  the  quarter-deck  like  a  tiger 
among  calves.  They  responded  instantly  to 
him.  In  an  instant  they  were  filled  with 
courage !  The  indomitable  spirit,  the  un- 
conquerable courage  of  the  commodore  pen- 
etrated every  soul,  and  every  one  who  saw 
his  example  or  heard  his  voice  became  as 
much  a  hero  as  himself !  " 

Both  vessels  were  at  this  time,  and  later, 
on  fire  in  various  places.  Captain  Pearson 
says  in  his  official  report  that  the  Serapis 
was  on  fire  no  less  than  ten  or  twelve  times. 
Half  the  men  on  both  ships  had  been  killed 
or  disabled.  The  leak  in  the  Kichard's  hold 
grew  steadily  worse,  and  the  mainmast  of 
the  Serapis  was  about  to  go  by  the  board. 
The  Alliance  again  appeared  and,  paying  no 
heed   to  Jones's  signal  to  lay  the  Serapis 


64  PAUL  JONES 

alongside,  raked  both  vessels  for  a  few  min- 
utes indiscriminately,  went  serenely  on  her 
way,  and  brought  her  inglorious  and  inexpli- 
cable part  in  the  action  to  a  close.  Captain 
Pearson  had,  for  a  moment,  towards  the  end 
of  the  action,  a  ray  of  hope.  A  gunner  on 
the  Richard,  thinking  the  ship  was  actually 
sinking,  called  for  quarter,  but  Jones  stunned 
him  with  the  butt  end  of  a  pistol,  and  re- 
plied to  Pearson,  who  had  again  hailed  to 
know  if  the  Richard  had  struck,  to  quote  his 
own  report,  "  in  the  most  determined  nega- 
tive." About  the  same  time,  the  master  at 
arms,  also  believing  the  ship  to  be  sinking, 
opened  the  hatches  and  released  nearly  two 
hundred  British  prisoners,  taken  in  the  va- 
rious prizes  of  the  cruise. 

Nothing,  apparently,  could  be  more  de- 
sperate than  the  situation  of  Paul  Jones 
then.  His  guns  useless,  his  ship  sinking 
and  on  fire,  half  of  his  crew  dead  or  disabled, 
the  Alliance  firing  into  him,  a  portion  of  his 
crew  panic-stricken,  and  two  hundred  British 
prisoners  at  large  on  the  ship !  But  with 
Lieutenant  Richard  Dale    to  help  him,  he 


FIGHT  WITH  THE  SERAPIS  G5 

boldly  ordered  the  prisoners  to  man  the 
pumps,  and  continued  the  fight  with  undi- 
minished energy.  Soon  after  occurred  the 
event  which  practically  decided  the  battle  in 
his  favor.  He  had  given  orders  to  drop 
hand  grenades  from  the  tops  of  the  Richard 
down  through  the  enemy's  main  hatch.  It 
was  by  this  means  that  the  Serapis  had  been 
so  often  set  on  fire.  Now  at  an  opportune 
moment,  a  hand  grenade  fell  among  a  pile  of 
cartridges  strung  out  on  the  deck  of  the 
Serapis  and  caused  a  terrible  explosion,  kill- 
ing many  men.  This  seemed  to  reduce 
materially  the  fighting  appetite  of  the  British, 
and  soon  after  a  party  of  seamen  from  the 
Richard,  with  the  dashing  John  Mayrant  at 
their  head,  boarded  the  Serapis,  and  met 
with  little  resistance.  Captain  Pearson 
thereupon  struck  his  colors,  and  the  victory 
which  marked  the  zenith  of  Jones's  career, 
and  upon  which  all  else  in  his  life  merely 
served  as  commentary,  was  scored.  Captain 
Pearson,  in  his  court-martial,  which  was  a 
formality  in  the  British  navy  in  case  of  defeat, 
explained  Jones's  victory  in  a  nutshell :   "  It 


66  PAUL  JONES 

was  clearly  apparent,"  he  said,  "  that  the 
American  ship  was  dominated  by  a  command- 
ins:  ^"ill  of  the  most  unalterable  resolution," 
and  again,  "  the  extraordinary  and  unheard- 
of  desperate  stubbornness  of  my  adversary 
had  so  depressed  the  spirits  of  my  people 
that,  when  more  than  two  hundred  had  been 
slain  or  disabled  out  of  317  all  told,  I  could 
not  urge  the  remnant  to  further  resistance." 

The  capture  of  the  British  ship,  which 
took  place  about  half-past  ten  at  night,  came 
none  too  soon,  for  the  old  Bonhomme  Richard 
was  sinking.  The  flames  were  extinguished 
by  combined  efforts  of  crew  and  prisoners  by 
ten  o'clock  the  next  morning,  but  with  seven 
feet  of  water,  constantly  increasing  in  the 
hold,  it  was  then  apparent  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  keep  the  old  vessel  afloat,  and  men, 
prisoners,  and  powder  were  transferred  to 
the  Serapis.  On  the  morning  of  the  25th 
Jones  obtained,  "with  inexpressible  grief," 
as  he  said,  "the  last  glimpse  of  the  Bon- 
homme Richard,"  as  she  went  down. 

The  desperate  battle  fought  in  the  bright 
moonlight  was  witnessed  by  many  persons  in 


FIGHT  WITH  THE  SERAPIS  67 

Scarborough  and  on  Flamborough  Head,  and 
they  spread  the  alarming  tidings  throughout 
England.  In  a  letter  to  Robert  Morris, 
written  soon  after,  Jones  said,  of  the  cruise 
in  general :  "  We  alarmed  their  coasts  pro- 
digiously from  Cape  Clear  round  to  Hull ; 
and  had  I  not  been  concerned  with  sons 
of  interest  I  could  have  done  much." 

With  his  two  new  prizes  (for  the  Countess 
of  Scarborough  had  after  a  short  action  struck 
to  the  greatly  superior  Pallas)  Jones  set  off 
for  the  Texel,  with  a  most  dilapidated  crew 
and  fleet.  The  Alliance,  well  called  a 
"  Comet "  by  the  editor  of  the  Janette-Taylor 
collection  of  Jones's  papers,  disappeared  again 
after  the  battle.  Landais,  whose  conduct 
was  described  by  Jones  as  being  that  of 
"  either  a  fool,  a  madman,  or  a  villain,"  was 
afterwards  dismissed  the  service,  but  not 
until  he  had  cut  up  other  extraordinary 
pranks.  He  now  went  off  with  his  swift  and 
uninjured  frigate  to  the  Texel,  leaving  Jones, 
laden  down  with  prisoners  and  wounded,  un- 
assisted. Of  the  Richard's  crew  of  323, 
67    men    had    been    killed,    leaving    106 


68  PAUL  JONES 

wounded  and  150  others  to  be  accommodated 
on  the  injured  Serapis.  Then  there  were 
211  Enghsh  prisoners  on  the  Richard  at 
the  beginning  of  the  action;  and  of  the  332 
(inckiding  8  sick  men  and  7  non-combatants) 
men  composing  the  crew  of  the  Serapis,  there 
were  245  left  to  be  cared  for — 134  wounded, 
87  having  been  killed.  There  were,  con- 
sequently, only  150  well  men  to  look  after 
562  wounded  and  prisoners.  Some  of  the 
latter  were  afterwards  transferred  to  the 
Pallas,  but  altogether  it  was  an  imwieldy 
fleet  which  slowly  sailed  for  the  Texel,  at 
which  neutral  port  Jones  arrived  October  3, 
none  too  soon,  for  as  he  entered  the  roads,  an 
English  squadron,  consisting  of  a  sixty-four 
ship  of  the  line  and  three  heavy  frigates, 
which  had  been  looking  for  him,  hove  in 
sight. 

The  effect  of  the  cruise  was  very  great. 
The  English  people,  alarmed  and  incensed, 
never  forgot  it.  Never  before  had  one  of 
their  ships  of  war  been  conquered  by  a  ves- 
sel of  gi'eatly  inferior  force.  Their  coasts, 
deemed  impregnable,  were  again  invaded  by 


FIGHT  WITH  THE  SERAPIS  G9 

the  man  whom  they  called,  in  the  blindness 
of  their  rage,  pirate  and  renegade.  Professor 
Houghton,  a  serious-minded  historian,  writ- 
ing: of  Jones  said  :  "  His  moral  character  can 
be  summed  up  in  one  word  —  detestable." 
English  comment  on  Paul  Jones  may  be 
summed  up  truthfully  in  one  word,  —  en- 
venomed. Jones's  exploits,  moreover,  greatly 
increased  the  prestige  of  young  America,  and 
made  of  himself  a  still  greater  hero  at  home 
and  particularly  in  France.  For  the  rest 
of  his  life,  indeed,  Jones,  in  France  especially, 
where  spectacles  are  peculiarly  appreciated, 
was  the  man  on  horseback,  and  he  enjoyed 
the  position  intensely.  Fanning  narrates 
how  Jones,  while  at  Amsterdam,  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  the  Texel,  "  was  treated  as  a 
conqueror.  This  so  elated  him  with  pride, 
that  he  had  the  vanity  to  go  into  the  State 
House,  mount  the  balcony  or  piazza,  and  show 
himself  in  the  front  thereof,  to  the  populace 
and  people  of  distinction  then  walking  on 
the  public  parade." 


VI 

DIPLOMACY   AT  THE   TEXEL 

Jones  found  himself  in  a  position  at  the 
Texel  which  demanded  all  the  shrewdness  as 
well  as  the  determination  of  his  character. 
Impatient,  irritable,  and  passionate  as  he 
often  was,  his  judgment  was  nevertheless 
excellent.  Benjamin  Franklin,  when  Jones 
at  a  later  time  was  again  put  in  a  delicate 
situation,  wrote  him  :  — 

"  You  have  shown  your  abilities  in  fight- 
ing ;  you  have  now  an  opportunity  of  show- 
ing the  other  necessary  part  in  the  character 
of  a  great  chief,  —  your  abilities  in  policy." 

Jones's  ability  in  policy  appeared  in  a  more 
favorable  light  in  the  Texel  than  at  any  other 
period  of  his  career,  although  too  great 
weight  has  been  laid  upon  the  degree  of  it. 
The  important  problem  to  be  solved  was 
how  to  induce  the  Dutch  authorities  to 
allow  him  and  his  battered  ships  to  remain 


DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  TEXEL         71 

for  a  time  in  the  shelter  of  their  port. 
Jones  knew  that  the  attainment  of  this 
object  would  help  to  bring  about  a  rupture 
between  England  and  Holland.  The  latter 
country  was  secretly  in  sympathy  with  the 
revolted  colonies,  but  eager  at  that  time  to 
maintain  officially  friendly  relations  with 
England.  Consequently,  when  Jones  ar- 
rived with  his  prizes,  the  Dutch  authorities 
were  in  a  quandary,  much  aggravated  by  the 
action  of  the  British  minister  in  Holland, 
Sir  Joseph  Yorke,  who  demanded  that  the 
"  pirate's "  prizes  be  delivered  up  to  Eng- 
land. He  reiterated  his  demand  to  the 
States-General  in  the  following  language : 
"  I  only  discharge  the  orders  of  his  Majesty 
in  renewing  the  most  strong  and  urgent  de- 
mand for  the  seizure  and  restitution  of  said 
vessels  as  well  as  for  the  enlargement  of 
their  crews,  who  have  been  seized  by  the 
pirate,  Paul  Jones,  a  Scotchman,  a  rebel- 
lious subject,  and  state  criminal." 

Jones,  in  reply  to  the  allegations  of  the 
British  minister,  copies  of  whose  letters  had 
been  sent  him,  wrote  the  States-General  an 


72  PAUL  JONES 

able  letter.  He  inclosed  a  copy  of  his  com- 
mission from  the  United  States  government, 
and  then  argued  that  the  United  States  was 
a  "  sovereign  power  "  and  entitled  to  issue 
such  a  commission.  He  pointed  out  that 
the  sovereignty  had  been  recognized  by 
France  and  Spain,  and  that  belligerent 
rights  had  been  recognized  by  Prussia  and 
by  Russia.  Only  one  of  Sir  Joseph's 
charges  he  admitted  to  be  true,  —  that  he 
was  a  Scotchman,  but  he  denied  the  inference 
made  from  it,  —  that  he  was  a  "  state  crim- 
inal." He  wrote :  "It  cannot  have  escaped 
the  attention  of  Your  High  Mightinesses 
that  every  man  now  giving  fealty  to  the 
cause  of  American  Independence  was  born 
a  British  subject."  If  he  were  a  "  state 
criminal,"  then,  he  argued.  General  Wash- 
ington, Benjamin  Franklin,  and  aU  other 
American  patriots  were  also  "  state  crim- 
inals." 

Soon  after  this  letter  was  received  the 
States-General  passed  a  resolution  declining 
to  "  consider  any  question  affecting  the 
validity  of  Paul  Jones's  commission  or  his 


DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  TEXEL         73 

status  as  a  person."  They  declined  likewise 
"  to  do  anytliing  from  which  it  might  law- 
fully be  inferred  that  they  recognized  the  in- 
dependence of  the  American  colonies."  They 
also  resolved  that  Paul  Jones  should  be  asked 
to  leave  their  port,  but  not  until  the  wind 
and  weather  should  be  favorable.  They  had 
refused,  therefore,  to  consider  Jones  as  a 
pirate,  or  to  deliver  up  liis  prizes. 

Paul  Jones's  plan  was  not  to  admit  that  a 
favorable  wind  had  arisen  until  the  last  pos- 
sible moment.  He  did  not  wish  to  be  taken 
by  the  strong  British  fleet  waiting  for  him 
outside  the  harbor,  and  he  desired,  as  he  said, 
in  order  to  provoke  war  between  Holland 
and  England,  "  to  try  the  patience  of  the 
English  party  to  the  last  bit  of  strain  it 
would  bear  by  keeping  my  anchorage  in 
Dutch  waters  on  plea  of  distress,  and  at  the 
same  time  I  wished  to  be  ready  for  instant 
departure  the  moment  I  saw  that  the  plea  of 
distress  could  no  longer  be  plausibly  held." 

The  French  Minister  of  Marine,  de  Sartine, 
however,  fearing  that  ultimately  the  pressure 
woidd  be  so  great  that  the  squadron  would  be 


74  PAUL  JONES 

compelled  to  depart  and  thus  fall  into  the 
clutches  of  the  British,  demanded  that  the 
French  flag,  which  naturally  commanded 
greater  respect  from  Holland  than  the  flag 
of  the  United  States,  should  be  displayed. 
Benjamin  Franklin  agreed  with  the  French 
minister,  but  Jones  protested :  — 

"  In  vain  I  expostulated  with  them  that 
by  accepting  the  shelter  of  the  French  flag 
I  should  do  exactly  of  all  things  what  Sir 
Joseph  Yorke  wished  me  to  do,  namely,  with- 
draw all  pretensions  of  the  United  States  as 
a  party  to  the  situation,  and  thereby  confess 
that  the  United  States  claimed  no  status  as 
a  sovereign  power  in  a  neutral  port." 

Jones  was  forced  to  yield,  the  French  flag 
was  displayed,  the  command  was  given  to  the 
French  captain,  Cottineau,  and  Jones  retained 
only  the  Alliance,  an  American  ship,  from 
which  he  was  allowed,  however,  to  fly  the 
American  flag. 

To  add  to  Jones'  sorrows  de  Sartine  offered 
him,  through  the  Due  de  Vaugiiyan,  a  French 
commission  to  command  the  Alliance  as  a 
letter  of  marque.    He  rejected  it  with  indig- 


DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  TEXEL         75 

nation  :  "  My  rank  from  the  beginning  knew 
no  superior  in  the  marine  of  America ;  how 
then  must  I  be  humbled  were  I  to  accept  a 
letter  of  marque  !  I  should,  my  lord,  esteem 
myself  inexcusable  were  I  to  accept  even  a 
commission  of  equal  or  superior  denomination 
to  that  I  bear,  unless  I  were  previously  autho- 
rized by  Congress,  or  some  other  competent 
authority  in  Europe."  That  the  Serapis,  the 
prize  for  which  he  had  so  bravely  contended, 
had  been  taken  from  him,  was  another  of 
the  wrongs  which  rankled  deeply  in  Jones's 
soul. 

Jones  must  have  got  a  great  deal  of  satis- 
faction, however,  from  the  fact  that  he  con- 
tinued defiantly  to  wave  the  American  flag 
from  the  Alliance,  and  that  he  delayed  his 
enforced  departure,  in  spite  of  great  pressure 
from  the  admiral  of  the  Dutch  fleet,  until 
December  26,  when  with  the  Alliance  he 
dashed  out  of  the  harbor  "  under  his  best 
American  colors,"  ran  the  gauntlet  of  the 
British  fleet  cruising  outside,  and  escaped 
into  the  open  sea. 

Before  leaving  the  Texel,  Jones,  on  Decem- 


76  PAUL  JONES 

ber  17,  1779,  wrote  Dr.  Bancroft :  "  I  am 
sure  that  the  strain  put  upon  the  relations 
between  Holland  and  England  must  end  in 
rupture  between  them  within  this  year." 

War  was  indeed  declared  between  England 
and  Holland  on  December  19,  1780,  and  in 
the  bill  of  grievances  set  forth  in  the  procla- 
mation of  a  state  of  war  against  Holland,  the 
statement  is  made  :  "  That,  in  violation  of 
treaty,  they  [the  States-General]  suffered  an 
American  Pirate  (one  Paul  Jones,  a  Rebel, 
and  State  Criminal)  to  remain  several  weeks 
in  one  of  their  ports." 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  Jones's  pertina^ 
cious  stay  in  the  Dutch  port  brought  about 
important  results. 

Another  instance  of  Jones's  sang-froid  in 
matters  where  time  was  given  for  his  judg- 
ment to  come  into  play,  was  the  way  he 
treated  Landais  at  the  Texel.  On  his  arrival 
at  that  port  Jones  sent  to  Dr.  Franldin 
charges  against  the  captain  of  the  Alliance, 
whom  he  removed  from  command.  Where- 
upon Landais  sent  Jones  a  challenge  to  a  duel. 
Fanning  narrates :   "  But  the  latter  [Jones] , 


DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  TEXEL         77 

perhaps  not  thinking  it  prudent  to  expose 
himself  with  a  single  combatant,  who  was  a 
complete  master  of  the  smallsword,  declined." 
In  the  second  edition  of  his  memoir  Fanning 
said  that  Jones  accepted  Landais's  challenge, 
but  insisted  on  substituting  pistols,  with  which 
he  was  an  expert,  for  swords,  a  proposition 
which  Landais  refused. 

Although  again  on  the  sea  and  free  from 
the  irritations  of  the  Texel,  Jones,  when  he 
had  eluded  the  British  fleet,  found  plenty  of 
other  things  to  annoy  him.  He  had  fortu- 
nately transferred  many  of  his  trustworthy 
men  from  the  Serapis  to  the  Alliance,  but 
there  were  enough  of  the  latter  ship's  old 
officers  and  men  to  divide  the  crew  into  two 
hostile  camps.  The  discontent  at  the  delay 
over  pajrment  of  wages  and  prize  money  had 
deepened.  Although  the  crew  was  large, 
fierce  in  temper,  and  at  first  very  anxious 
to  look  for  further  prizes,  they  yet,  after 
the  cruise  had  continued  for  some  time 
without  success,  refused  to  continue  unless 
they  were  paid.  Jones,  in  order  to  induce 
them  to  embark  from  Corunna,  Spain,  where 


78  PAUL  JONES 

the  Alliance  had  put  in  for  repairs  and  pro- 
visions, promised  that  he  would  sail  imme- 
diately for  L' Orient,  where  they  shoidd 
receive  their  prize  money.  As  soon  as  he 
was  again  at  sea,  however,  Jones  informed 
his  officers  that  he  intended  to  make  a 
further  cruise  of  twenty  days.  Fanning, 
one  of  the  officers,  quotes  Jones  :  — 

"  '  And,'  says  he,  with  a  kind  of  contemp- 
tuous smile,  which  he  was  much  addicted  to, 
'  Gentlemen,  you  cannot  conceive  what  an 
additional  honor  it  would  be  to  all  of  us,  if  in 
cruising  a  few  days  we  should  have  the  good 
luck  to  fall  in  with  an  English  frigate  of  our 
force  and  carry  her  in  with  us.  .  .  .  This 
would  crown  our  former  victories,  and  our 
names,  in  consequence  thereof,  would  be 
handed  down  to  latest  posterity  by  some 
faithful  historian  of  our  country. ' ' '  Fanning 
adds  in  a  footnote :  "  Jones  had  a  wonderful 
notion  of  his  name  being  handed  down  to 
posterity." 

When  the  officers  remonstrated  on  the 
ground  that  the  men  were  badly  clothed, 
Jones  flew  into  a  rage  and  ordered  them  to 


DIPLOMACY  AT  THE  TEXEL         79 

go  to  their  duty.  He  found,  however,  that 
he  could  not,  with  a  mutinous  crew,  con- 
tinue his  course  effectively,  and  reluctantly 
sailed  for  L'Orient,  where  he  arrived  on 
February  10,  1780. 


VII 

SOCIETY   IN    PARIS 

The  following  year,  passed  mainly  in 
France,  at  Paris  or  L'Orient,  was  spent  by 
Jones  in  trying  to  collect  prize  money,  se- 
cure an  important  command,  and  in  society, 
where  he  shone  more  resplendently  than  ever. 
He  -wrote  rather  more  than  his  usual  large 
number  of  letters,  —  to  Franklin,  Robert 
Morris,  the  Duchesse  de  Chartres,  Arthur 
Lee,  Dr.  Bancroft,  and  many  others,  —  in 
practically  all  of  them  urging  some  one  of 
his  warmly  desired  projects. 

His  correspondence  with  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin was  largely  about  prize  money  and  the 
expense  of  repairing  the  Alliance,  which  he 
undertook  to  do  immediately  on  his  arrival 
at  L'Orient.  The  frugal  doctor  attempted 
to  curb,  in  the  matter  of  expense,  the  free- 
handed Jones.  The  latter  had  an  enormous 
respect  for  Franklin,  and  it  is  quite  likely 


SOCIETY  IN  PARIS  81 

that  he  attempted  to  be  economical,  but  he 
seems  to  have  been  less  successful  in  that 
direction  than  in  any  other.  Fanning  speaks 
of  the  "  great  and  unnecessary  expense " 
involved  in  Jones's  elaborate  alterations,  and 
narrates  how,  at  a  later  period,  when  Jones 
was  in  command  of  the  Ariel,  anchored  in 
the  harbor  at  L' Orient,  a  magnificent  spec- 
tacle was  given  on  board  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  invited  by 
Jones.  A  mock  fight  between  the  Bonhomme 
Richard  and  the  Serapis,  in  which  vast  quan- 
tities of  ammunition  were  destroyed,  took 
place.  The  vessel  was  finely  carpeted  and 
decorated,  a  regal  banquet  was  served,  mili- 
tary music  played,  and  in  general  "  neither 
cash  nor  pains,"  says  Fanning,  "  were  spared 
in  order  that  the  scene  every  way  should 
appear  magnificent."  Although  the  hero 
never  seemed  to  take  account  of  the  extreme 
poverty  of  the  infant  republic,  it  is  only  fair 
to  add  that  he  spent  his  own  money  as  freely 
as  any  one  else's,  and  that  he  often  served 
without  pay,  a  fact  continually  attested  to 
by  himself  in  his  letters  and  journals. 


82  PAUL  JONES 

Jones's  lack  of  success,  in  spite  of  his 
energetic  attempts  in  collecting  at  this  time 
the  prize  money,  about  which  there  were  many 
annoying  technicalities,  increased  the  dis- 
content of  his  crew,  and  prepared  the  way 
for  the  seizure  of  the  Alliance  by  the  mad 
Landais.  Arthur  Lee,  formerly  one  of  the 
American  commissioners  in  Europe,  had 
always  been  hostile  to  Jones  and  unsym- 
pathetic with  Dr.  Franklin  and  with  the 
revolutionary  party  generally ;  to  such  a 
degree,  indeed,  that  he  was  accused,  not  un- 
justly, of  treachery  to  the  cause  of  American 
independence.  At  the  time  that  the  Alliance 
was  at  L'Orient,  Lee  was  waiting  an  oppor- 
tunity to  return  to  America.  Captain  Lan- 
dais, who  had  been  deprived  of  the  command 
of  the  Alliance  by  order  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, then  the  sole  representative  of  the 
United  States  in  France,  and  who  had  like- 
wise been  ordered  by  the  doctor  to  report  to 
the  Marine  Committee  on  the  charge  of  infa- 
mous conduct,  planned  to  take  the  Alliance 
from  Jones,  and  was  supported  in  the  attempt 
by  Lee,  who  contended  that  neither  Franklin 


SOCIETY  IN  PARIS  83 

nor  Jones  could  deprive  Landais  of  a  com- 
mand given  him  by  Congress.  Lee's  desire 
to  take  the  ship  from  Jones  was  augmented 
by  the  latter' s  refusal  to  make  room  for  the 
ex-commissioner's  many  effects,  including 
two  fine  coaches, —  space  which  was  much 
needed  for  the  accommodation  of  supplies  for 
Washington's  army. 

Lee  and  Landais  consequently  encouraged 
the  discontent  among  the  crew  of  the  Alli- 
ance, and  one  day,  June  13,  when  Jones  was 
on  shore  at  L' Orient,  Landais  went  on  board 
the  ship,  and,  supported  by  his  old  officers 
and  by  Lee,  took  possession.  When  Jones 
heard  of  it  he  was  very  angry,  and  acted, 
according  to  Fanning, "  more  like  a  madman 
than  a  conqueror ;  "  but,  as  usual,  his  anger 
was  quickly  controlled  and  the  definite  steps 
he  took  in  the  affair  were  marked  by  great 
moderation.  The  commandant  of  the  defenses 
at  L'Orient  had  received  orders  from  the 
French  government  to  fire  on  the  Alliance,  if 
Landais  should  attempt  to  take  her  out  of 
the  harbor ;  and  it  seems  he  would  have 
obeyed  and  probably  sunk  the  ship,  had  not 


8i  PAUL  JONES 

Jones  himself  interfered,  and  induced  him 
to  stay  his  hand.  In  a  letter  to  Franklin, 
Jones  said  :  — 

"  Your  humanity  will,  I  know,  justify  the 
part  I  acted  in  preventing  a  scene  that  would 
have  made  me  miserable  the  rest  of  my  life." 

Jones  was  probably  not  over  sorry  to  lose 
the  Alliance.  There  was  nothing  very  thrill- 
ing in  the  prospect  of  carrying  supplies  to 
America,  and  Jones  at  that  time  hoped  fer- 
vently to  get  hold  of  the  Serapis  and  other 
ships  and  make  another  warlike  cruise  against 
the  coast  of  England.  So  Landais  sailed 
away  with  the  Alliance,  but  to  liis  own  ruin, 
as  the  clear-sighted  Jones  had  predicted  in 
a  remarkable  letter  written  a  short  time 
before  the  ship  sailed  to  a  mutinous  officer 
on  the  Alliance.  On  the  voyage  Landais's 
eccentricity  caused  his  friend  Lee  to  put  him 
under  arrest,  and  on  the  arrival  in  America, 
a  court  of  inquiry  found  him  unfit  for  com- 
mand, and  he  never  again  burdened  the  ser- 
vice. 

Jones  was  left  at  L'Orient  with  the  little 
Ariel,  armed  with  eighteen  twelve-pounders 


SOCIETY  IN  PARIS  85 

and  four  six-pounders,  a  ship  loaned  by  the 
king  to  Dr.  Franklin,  and  with  high  hopes, 
as  usual,  of  more  glorious  opportunities. 
But  many  months  intervened  before  he  sailed 
aofain,  —  a  time  he  devoted  to  business  and 
society.  As  Jones  and  his  interesting  mid- 
shipman Fanning  separated  at  the  end  of 
this  period,  the  latter' s  final  impressions  of 
his  captain  may  here  be  given :  — 

"  Captain  Jones  was  a  man  of  about  five 
feet  six  inches  high,weU  shaped  below  his  head 
and  shoulders,  rather  roimd  shouldered,  with 
a  visage  fierce  and  warlike,  and  wore  the  ap- 
pearance of  gTcat  application  to  study,  which 
he  was  fond  of.  He  was  an  excellent  sea- 
man and  knew  naval  tactics  as  well  as  almost 
any  man  of  his  age  ;  but  it  must  be  allowed 
that  his  character  was  somewhat  tinctured 
with  bad  qualities  .  .  .  his  courage  and  brav- 
ery as  a  naval  commander  cannot  be  doubted. 
His  smoothness  of  tongue  and  flattery  to  sea- 
men when  he  wanted  them  was  persuasive, 
and  in  which  he  excelled  any  other  man  I 
was  ever  acquainted  with.  .  .  .  His  pride 
and  vanity  while  at  Paris  and  Amsterdam 
was  not  generally  approved  of." 


86  PAUL  JONES 

Fanning  has  many  anecdotes  to  relate  in 
regard  to  Jones's  affairs  of  gallantry  of  an 
humble  character.  Several  of  Jones's  bio- 
graphers have  dwelt  upon  the  gorgeous  and 
aristocratic  nature  of  the  hero's  amours. 
Fanning  has  the  solitary  distinction  of  nar- 
rating the  other  side.  Jones,  indeed,  was  a 
good  deal  of  a  snob,  but  he  was  broadly  ap- 
preciative of  the  fair  sex.  He  probably  was 
never  deeply  in  love  with  anybody,  certainly 
not  with  any  woman  of  humble  character. 
Of  such  his  appreciation  was  of  a  simple 
and  earthly  kind. 

Althoug^h  Jones  seems  to  have  had  no  in- 
timate  friends,  with  possibly  one  exception, 
there  certainly  was  about  him  a  very  strong 
charm,  which  made  him  a  favorite  in  good 
society.  He  had  a  flattering  tongue,  a  ready 
wit,  and  a  gallant  manner.  Of  Jones's  at- 
tractions Benjamin  Franklin  once  wrote  to 
a  woman :  — 

"  I  must  confess  to  your  Ladyship  that  when 
face  to  face  with  him  neither  man  nor,  so  far 
as  I  can  learn,  woman  can  for  a  moment  re- 
sist the  strange  magnetism  of  his  presence, 


SOCIETY  IN   PARIS  87 

the  indescribable  cbarm  of  his  manner,  a 
commingling  of  the  most  compliant  deference 
with  the  most  perfect  seK-esteem  that  I  have 
ever  seen  in  a  man ;  and,  above  all,  the 
sweetness  of  his  voice  and  the  purity  of  his 
language." 

Mr.  Varnum  of  Rhode  Island,  who  met 
Jones  only  in  connection  with  public  busi- 
ness, said  of  him  :  — 

"  I  confess  there  was  a  magic  about  his 
way  and  manner  that  I  have  never  before 
seen.  Whatever  he  said  carried  conviction 
with  it." 

Even  more  sensible  of  Jones's  charms  than 
the  men  were  the  women,  who  were  universally 
dazzled  by  the  brilliant  hero.  Miss  Edes- 
Herbert,  an  Englishwoman  living  in  Paris, 
writes,  among  other  flattering  things  about 
liim :  — 

"  Since  my  last,  the  famous  Paul  Jones 
has  dined  here  and  also  been  present  at  after- 
noon teas.  If  I  am  in  love  with  him,  for 
love  I  may  die,  I  am  sure,  because  I  have  as 
many  rivals  as  there  are  ladies." 

She  records  that  Jones  wrote  verses  for 


88  PAUL  JONES 

the  ladies  extempore,  and  gives  a  sample,  the 
sentiments  of  which  are  as  characteristic  of 
the  declamatory  century  as  of  the  naively 
vain  Jones :  — 

"  Insulted  Freedom  bled,  —  I  felt  her  cause, 
And  drew  my  sword  to  vindicate  her  laws, 
From  principle,  and  not  from  vain  applause. 
I  've  done  my  best ;  self-interest  far  apart. 
And  self-reproach  a  stranger  to  my  heart ; 
My  zeal  stUl  prompts,  ambitious  to  pursue 
The  foe,  ye  fair,  of  liberty  and  you  : 
Grateful  for  praise,  spontaneous  and  unbought, 
A  generous  people's  love  not  meanly  sought ; 
To  merit  this,  and  bend  the  knee  to  beauty. 
Shall  be  my  earliest  and  latest  duty." 

Many  of  Jones's  flowery  letters  to  distin- 
guished women  are  preserved.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  wrote  to  a  certain  countess,  informing 
her  that  he  was  composing  a  secret  cipher 
for  a  key  to  their  correspondence,  and  added : 
"  I  beseech  you  to  accept  the  within  lock  (of 
hair).  I  am  sorry  that  it  is  now  eighteen 
inches  shorter  than  it  was  three  months  ago." 

The  only  case  in  which  Jones's  affections 
seem  to  have  reached  beyond  good  nature, 
common  kindness,  or  gallantry,  to  the  point  of 
love,  was  that  of  Aimee  de  Thelison.  She  was 


SOCIETY  IN  PARIS  89 

the  natural  daughter  of  Louis  XV.,  and  this 
fact  no  doubt  greatly  heightened  her  interest 
in  the  eyes  of  the  aristocratic  Jones.  She 
was  a  person  of  beauty  and  charm,  and  felt 
deep  love  for  Jones.  His  love  for  her  was 
of  a  cool  character,  which  did  not  interfere 
with  any  of  the  enterprises  taking  him  so 
frequently  away  from  Paris.  His  letters  to 
her  are  with  one  exception  hardly  love  letters. 
The  warmest  words  in  that  exception  are  :  — 

"  The  last  French  packet  brought  no  letter 
to  me  from  the  person  whose  happiness  is 
dearer  to  me  than  anything  else.  .  .  .  Your 
silence  makes  even  honors  insipid." 

It  was  while  Jones  was  waiting  thus  gayly 
to  sail  for  America,  that  the  king  of  France 
bestowed  upon  him,  in  recognition  of  his  ser- 
vices to  the  common  cause,  the  Royal  Order  of 
Military  Merit  and  a  gold-mounted  sword  of 
honor,  and  made  him  Chevalier  of  France.  It 
was,  as  Jones  himself  frequently  wrote,  a  sin- 
gular honor,  he  being  the  first  alien  to  be  made 
a  French  chevalier ;  and  Jones  prized  this 
favor  from  a  king  more  than  he  would  the 
gift  of  a  million   doUars.     The  gold  sword 


90  PAUL  JONES 

also  pleased  him  deeply,  and  he  asked  the 
countess  to  whom  he  had  sent  the  lock  of 
hair  to  keep  it  for  him,  lest  he  lose  it.  He 
wrote  of  this  gift :  — 

"  His  Majesty  ordered  a  superb  sword  to 
be  made  for  me,  which  I  have  since  received, 
and  it  is  called  much  more  elegant  than  that 
presented  to  the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette." 


VIII 

PRIVATE    AMBITION    AND    PUBLIC    BUSINESS 

Benjamin  Franklin,  knowing  the  value 
of  the  supplies  to  Wasliington's  army,  had  im- 
plored Jones  to  embark  several  months  be- 
fore the  little  Ariel  actually  set  sail,  October 
8,  1780.  But  Jones,  hoping  for  an  impor- 
tant conmiand  in  Europe,  and  delayed  by 
business  in  connection  with  fitting  out  his 
ship,  and  perhaps  by  the  gayeties  he  was 
engaged  in  at  Paris,  did  not  show  much  con- 
cern over  General  Washington's  distress. 
When  he  finally  did  sail,  he  encountered  a 
terrible  storm,  and  it  was  only  the  best  of 
seamanship  which  enabled  him  to  avoid  ship- 
wreck. As  it  was,  he  was  compelled  to  put 
back  for  repairs  to  L'Orient,  where,  in  a 
series  of  letters,  he  manoeuvred  in  vain  for 
the  loan  of  the  fine  ship  Terpsichore. 

It  was  not  until  December  18  that  the 
Ariel   got    under  way   again  for  America. 


92  PAUL  JONES 

The  voyage  was  uneventful,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  night  battle  with  a  British  privateer 
sloop  of  inferior  force.  Jones  cleverly  con- 
cealed ^  his  greater  strength,  and  thus  lured 
the  Englishman  to  engage.  After  a  ten- 
minute  fight,  the  Triumph  struck  its  colors, 
but,  when  the  Ariel  ceased  firing,  sailed  away 
and  escaped,  to  Jones's  exceeding  mortifica- 
tion. 

"  The  English  captain,"  he  wrote  in  his 
journal,  "  may  properly  be  called  a  knave, 
because  after  he  surrendered  his  ship,  begged 
for  and  obtained  quarter,  he  basely  ran  away, 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  naval  war  and  the 
practice  of  civilized  nations." 

Paul  Jones,  when  he  arrived  in  Philadel- 
phia, the  18  th  of  February,  1781,  was 
thirty-three  years  old  and  had  actively  served 
in  the  United  States  navy  for  five  years  and 
five  months.  He  never  fought  another  battle 
under  the  United  States  flag ;  indeed,  with 
the  exception  of  his  distressing  experiences  in 
Russia,  he  never  fought  again  under  any  flag. 
But  to  his  dying  day  he  did  not  cease  to 
plan  great  naval  deeds  and  to  hope  for  greater 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  93 

opportunity  to  harass  the  enemy — any  enemy. 
In  view  of  his  great  ambition  and  ability,  cir- 
cumstances allowed  him  to  accomplish  little. 
He  had  only  one  opportunity,  and  the  way  he 
responded  made  him  famous ;  but  though  it 
brought  him  honor  it  did  not  satisfy  him,  and 
the  rest  of  his  life  was  a  series  of  disappoint- 
ments. His  bitterness  grew  apace,  and  be- 
fore he  died  he  was  a  genuinely  pathetic 
figure. 

Soon  after  Jones's  arrival  at  Philadelphia, 
the  Board  of  Admiralty  required  him  to  give 
"  all  the  information  in  his  power  relative  to 
the  detention  of  the  clothing  and  arms  in 
France  intended  for  Washington's  army ;  " 
and  a  series  of  forty-seven  questions,  on  the 
subject  not  only  of  the  delay  but  also  on 
matters  connected  generally  with  his  cruises, 
were  submitted  to  him.  He  attributed,  with 
probable  justice,  the  instigation  of  this  inves- 
tigation to  his  enemy  Arthur  Lee,  whom  he 
desired  in  consequence  to  challenge  to  a  duel. 
He  was  dissuaded,  however,  from  this  step, 
as  well  as  from  the  publication  of  a  paper  he 
had  written  called  "Arthur  Lee  in  France," 


94  PAUL  JONES 

in  which  he  made  a  circumstantial  charge 
against  Lee  of  "  treason,  perfidy,  and  the 
office  of  a  spy,"  by  some  of  liis  distinguished 
friends,  inchiding  Morris  and  Livingston. 

Without  either  the  duel  or  the  publication 
of  the  paper,  Jones  was,  however,  completely 
vindicated.  He  answered  the  questions  with 
clearness  and  skill,  to  the  complete  satisfac- 
tion of  the  board,  which  recommended  that 
Congress  confer  on  the  hero  some  distin- 
guished mark  of  approbation.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  question  Jones  personally, 
and  the  impression  he  made  upon  it  is  another 
proof  of  the  remarkable  suavity,  plausibility 
and  magnetism  of  the  man.  One  of  the 
examining  committeemen  wrote  :  — 

"  From  his  beginning  no  one  thought  of 
disputing  him.  Toward  the  end  we  seldom 
ventured  to  ask  him  any  questions.  He  made 
himself  master  of  the  situation  throughout. 
At  the  end  the  committee  felt  honored  by 
having  had  the  privilege  of  listening  to  him." 

On  the  conmiittee's  recommendation  Con- 
gress, which  had  already  on  Jones's  arrival 
resolved  "that  Congress  entertain   a   high 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  95 

sense  o£  the  distingiiislied  bravery  and  mili- 
tary conduct  of  Jolm  Paul  Jones,  Esq.,  cap- 
tain in  the  na\y  of  the  United  States,  and 
particularly  in  his  victory  over  the  British 
frigate  Serapis,"  gave  Jones  a  further  vote 
of  thanks,  "  for  the  zeal,  prudence,  and  in- 
trepidity with  which  he  has  supported  the 
honor  of  the  American  flag ;  for  his  bold  and 
successful  enterprises  to  redeem  from  cap- 
tivity the  citizens  of  these  States  who  had  fal- 
len under  the  power  of  the  enemy,  and  in  gen- 
eral for  the  good  conduct  and  eminent  ser- 
vices by  which  he  has  added  lustre  to  his 
character  and  to  the  American  arms." 

Soon  after,  the  intrepid  man  to  whom  were 
given  so  many  testimonials  and  so  few  satis- 
factory commands  received  an  appreciative 
letter  from  General  Washington,  who,  after 
stating  his  satisfaction  with  Jones's  explana- 
tion of  the  delay  of  the  supplies,  said :  — 

"  Whether  our  naval  affairs  have  in  sfen- 
eral  been  well  or  ill  conducted  would  be  pre- 
sumptuous in  me  to  determine.  Instances  of 
bravery  and  good  conduct  in  several  of  our 
officers   have  not,   however,   been   wanting. 


96  PAUL  JONES 

Delicacy  forbids  me  to  mention  that  particu- 
lar instance  wliicli  has  attracted  the  admira- 
tion of  all  the  world  and  which  has  influenced 
the  most  illustrious  monarch  to  confer  a  mark 
of  liis  favor  which  can  only  be  obtained  by  a 
long  and  honorable  service  or  by  the  perform- 
ance of  some  brilliant  action." 

It  now  seemed  to  Jones  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity to  improve  his  rank,  and  on  May  28 
he  sent  a  memorial  to  Congress  reiterating 
his  claims  to  stand  above  the  captains  who 
had  been  unjustly  put  ahead  of  him.  He 
failed,  probably  on  account  of  the  political 
influence  wielded  by  the  captains  ;  but  in  the 
way  of  compensation  he  was  appointed  com- 
mander of  the  new  vessel  then  building  at 
Portsmouth,  a  seventy-four,  called  the  Amer- 
ica, the  only  ship  of  the  line  o\vned  by  the 
States, —  a  "  singular  honor,"  as  he  expressed 
it.  John  Adams,  who  had  at  one  time  been 
unfriendly  to  Jones,  looking  upon  him  as 
"  a  smooth,  plausible,  and  rather  capable 
adventurer,"  wrote  lum,  a  j^'^ojws  of  this 
appointment :  — 

"  The  command  of  the  America  could  not 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  97 

have  been  more  judiciously  bestowed,  and  it 
is  with  impatience  that  I  wish  her  at  sea, 
where  she  will  do  honor  to  her  name." 

Jones  had  hoped  to  join  Washington's 
army,  then  campaigning  against  Cornwallis, 
as  a  volunteer,  but  he  cheerfully  gave  up  this 
exciting  prospect  in  order  to  prepare  the 
America  for  sea,  —  "  the  most  lingering  and 
disagreeable  task,"  he  wrote,  "  he  had  been 
charged  with  during  the  whole  of  the  war."  He 
did  his  job  with  his  usual  efficiency,  however, 
and  with  his  usual  extravagance,  which  he 
called  simplicity.  He  wrote  in  his  journal : 
"  The  plan  which  Captain  Jones  projected  for 
the  sculpture  expressed  dignity  and  simplicity. 
The  head  was  a  female  figure  crowned  with 
laurels.  The  right  arm  was  raised,  with  the 
forefinger  pointing  to  heaven.  .  .  .  On  the 
left  arm  was  a  buckler,  with  a  blue  ground 
and  thirteen  silver  stars.  The  legs  and  feet 
were  covered  here  and  there  with  wreaths  of 
smoke,  to  represent  the  dangers  and  difficul- 
ties of  war.  On  the  stern,  under  the  windows  of 
the  great  cabin,  appeared  two  large  figures  in 
bas-relief,  representing  Tyranny  and  Oppres- 


98  PAUL  JONES 

sion,  bound  and  biting  the  ground,  with  the 
cap  of  Liberty  on  a  pole  above  their  heads. 
On  the  bacli  part  of  the  starboard  quarter 
was  a  large  Neptune  ;  and  on  the  back  part  of 
the  larboard  quarter  gallery,  a  large  Mars." 

As  a  reward  for  all  this  industry  and  aes- 
thetic effort  Jones  had  another  disappoint- 
ment ;  for  in  August,  1782,  the  French 
seventy -four  gunship,  the  Magnifique,  was 
wrecked  at  the  entrance  to  Boston  harbor, 
and  Congress  gave  the  America  to  the  king 
of  France. 

With  undaunted  energy  Jones  now  at- 
tempted to  get  hold  of  the  South  Carolina, 
originally  called  the  Indien,  which  he  had 
formerly,  when  he  crossed  the  ocean  in  the 
Ranger,  failed  to  secure.  She  was  now,  under 
the  new  name,  in  the  service  of  the  States, 
and  Robert  Morris  tried  to  turn  her  over  to 
Jones,  that  he  might  again  "  harass  the  en- 
emy." But  the  plan  failed,  and  Jones  re- 
mained without  a  command.  Unable  to  rest, 
although  his  health  had  for  some  time  been 
failing,  he  now  requested  and  obtained  con- 
sent "  to  embark  as  a  volimteer  in  pursuit  of 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  99 

military  marine  knowledge  with  the  Marquis 
de  Vaudreuil,  in  order  to  enable  him  the  bet- 
ter to  serve  his  country  when  America  should 
increase  her  navy."  He  went  off,  accord- 
ingly, on  the  cruise  with  the  French  fleet ;  but 
the  expedition,  during  the  course  of  which 
peace  was  declared,  was  uneventful,  and 
Jones,  who  had  had  an  attack  of  fever,  spent 
the  summer  of  1783  quietly  in  the  town  of 
Bethlehem.  In  the  following  November, 
however,  he  renewed  his  activity,  and  on  his 
application  was  appointed  by  Congress  agent 
to  collect  all  moneys  due  from  the  sale  of 
the  prizes  taken  in  European  waters  by  ves- 
sels under  his  command. 

Although  money  was  subordinate,  in 
Jones's  mind,  to  glory  and  the  opportunity  for 
action,  he  was  an  excellent  business  man.  His 
commercial  transactions  had  been  successful 
enough  to  enable  him  to  pay  with  his  own  re- 
sources the  crews  of  the  Alfred  and  Provi- 
dence, so  that  when  he  set  sail  in  the  Ranger 
he  had  advanced  <£1500  to  the  United  States. 
After  the  close  of  the  war,  at  a  period  of 
comparative  inactivity,  he  began  a  profitable 


100  PAUL  JONES 

trade  In  illuminating  oils,  and  in  his  character 
as  prize  money  agent  he  continued  to  show 
his  business  dexterity.  He  began  a  long 
campaign  of  a  year  of  most  pertinacious  and 
vigorous  dunning  for  money  due  the  United 
States,  himself,  and  the  officers  and  sailors 
under  his  command.  He  wrote  innumerable 
letters  to  Franklin,  to  de  Castries,  the  new 
Minister  of  Marine,  to  de  Vergennes,  Minis- 
ter of  Foreign  Affairs  ;  to  many  others,  and 
prepared  for  the  king  a  careful  account  of 
his  cruises,  in  order  to  show  that  prize  money 
was  due.  In  arguing  for  all  that  he  could 
get  he  showed  great  acuteness,  legal  sense, 
and,  beyond  everything,  invincible  determin- 
ation. He  also  again  demonstrated  his  happy 
talent  for  abuse  of  those  who  stood  in  his 
way.  He  finally  secured  the  allowance  of 
his  claims  ;  and  the  settlements,  which  began 
in  January,  1784,  were  completed,  as  far  as 
France  was  concerned,  in  July,  1785.  He 
was  paid  181,000  livres,  which  he  turned 
over,  less  deductions  for  expenses  and  his 
own  share  of  the  prize  money,  to  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, then  minister  to  France,  who  approved 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  101 

the  account.  Jones  charged  for  his  ordinary- 
expenses,  however,  the  sum  of  48,000  livres 
and  his  share  of  prize  money  was  13,000 
li^Tes,  a  total  of  61,000  livres,  a  generous 
allowance.  One  of  the  free-handed  man's 
biographers,  A.  S.  MacKenzie,  pointed  out 
that  Jones  "  charged  his  shipmates  for  his 
expenses,  during  less  than  two  years,  more 
than  General  Washington  did  the  people  of 
the  United  States  throughout  the  Revolution- 
ary War." 

The  next  public  business  of  Jones  was  to 
attempt  to  collect  indemnity  from  the  Danish 
government  for  the  delivery  to  England  of 
the  prizes  sent  by  the  mad  Landais,  during 
Jones's  most  famous  cruise,  to  Bergen,  Den- 
mark. He  delayed  his  trip  to  Copenhagen, 
however,  for  a  number  of  reasons.  At  this 
time  he  was  carrying  on  several  private  busi- 
ness enterprises  of  importance,  was  occupied 
with  society  in  London  and  Paris,  and  was 
eagerly  desirous  of  being  sent  by  the  French 
government  against  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  who 
held  in  bondage  many  Christians.  At  various 
times  during  his  career  Jones  showed  a  keen 


102  PAUL  JONES 

sense  of  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  Americans 
by  the  Barbary  pirates  in  search  of  tribute, 
and  in  his  letters  to  Jefferson  and  others  he 
often  suggested  plans  for  their  extermination. 
For  de  Yergennes  and  de  Castries  he  pre- 
pared a  memorandum  urging  the  necessity 
of  a  movement  against  the  pirates,  and  ably 
pointing  out  the  good  that  would  accrue 
therefrom  to  the  world,  and  particularly  to 
France,  to  which  nation  he  attributed  future 
dominion  in  North  Africa,  provided  action 
was  taken  in  time  to  forestall  Great  Britain. 

"  The  knowledge  of  the  race  persuades 
me,"  he  wrote,  "  that  England  will  soon  in- 
vade the  Mediterranean  —  doubtless  as  soon 
as  she  recovers  from  the  exhaustion  of  the 
late  war." 

The  United  States,  however,  were  after 
the  war  lacking  so  completely  in  resources 
that  a  war  with  the  pirates  was  impossible, 
and  France  was  on  the  brink  of  her  great 
Revolution,  and  had  more  important  things 
to  consider.  So  Jones  died  before  the  expedi- 
tion for  which  he  had  so  ardently  hoped,  and 
which  brought  so  much  honor,  as    he    had 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  103 

predicted,  to  the  man  who  commanded  it  — 
Commodore  Dale,  once  Jones's  first  lieuten- 
ant on  the  Bonhomme  Richard  —  was  dis- 
patched. 

Jones  finally  set  off  for  Copenhagen  to 
collect  the  indemnity  from  the  Danish  gov- 
ernment ;  but  hearing  of  a  crisis  in  an  im- 
portant business  matter  in  which  he  was 
interested,  he  made,  before  arriving  at  his 
destination,  a  flying  trip  to  America.  While 
there,  he  was  awarded  a  gold  medal  by  Con- 
gress, and  said  in  his  journal  that  such  a 
medal  had  been  given  to  only  six  officers. 

"■  To  General  Washington,  for  the  capture 
of  Boston  ;  General  Gates,  for  the  capture 
of  Burgoyne's  army  ;  General  Wayne,  for 
the  taking  of  Rocky  Point ;  .  .  .  General 
Morgan,  for  having  defeated  and  destroyed 
a  detachment  of  1100  officers  and  soldiers 
of  the  best  troops  of  England,  with  900 
militia  merely  ;  General  Greene,  for  having 
scored  a  decisive  victory  on  the  enemy  at 
Euta  Spring.  .  .  .  But  all  these  medals, 
although  well  merited,  were  given  in  mo- 
ments of  enthusiasm.     I  had  the  unique  sat- 


104  PAUL  JONES 

isfaction  of  receiving  the  same  honor,  by  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  United  States  assem- 
bled in  Congress,  the  sixteenth  October, 
1787,  in  memory  of  the  services  which  I 
rendered  eight  years  earlier." 

It  was  not  until  January,  1788,  that  Paul 
Jones  arrived  at  Copenhagen,  where,  during 
his  short  stay,  he  was  magnificently  enter- 
tained by  the  court.  The  negotiations  for 
the  indemnity,  which  he  began  almost  imme- 
diately, were  abruptly  terminated  by  the 
transfer  of  the  matter  for  settlement  to 
Paris.  Jones,  on  the  day  he  agreed  to 
suspend  the  negotiations,  received  from  the 
Danish  government  a  patent  for  a  pension 
of  1500  crowns  a  year,  "  for  the  respect  he 
had  shown  the  Danish  flag  while  he  com- 
manded in  the  European  seas."  Jones  kept 
this  transaction,  for  which  he  possibly  felt 
ashamed,  to  himself,  until  several  years  after- 
wards, when,  writing  to  Jefferson,  he  said  : 
"  I  have  felt  myself  in  an  embarrassing  situ- 
ation, with  regard  to  the  king's  patent,  and 
I  have  not  yet  made  use  of  it,  though  three 
years  have  elapsed  since  I  received  it." 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  105 

On  Jones's  return  to  Paris  from  America, 
previous  to  his  Copenhagen  trip,  the  Russian 
ambassador  to  France,  Baron  Sunolin,  had 
made,  through  Mr.  Jefferson,  a  proposition 
looking  to  the  appointment  of  the  conqueror 
of  the  Serapis  to  a  position  in  the  navy  of 
Eussia,  then  about  to  war  with  the  Turks. 
Simolin  wrote  Catherine  II.  of  Russia  that, 
"  with  the  chief  command  of  the  fleet  and 
carte  hlanche  he  would  undertake  that  in  a 
year  Paul  Jones  would  make  Constantinople 
tremble."  This  exciting  possibility  was  no 
doubt  constantly  in  Jones's  mind  while  he 
was  at  Copenhagen,  and  probably  increased 
his  willingness  to  dismiss  the  indemnity 
negotiations.  He  began  immediately  to  ma- 
noeuvre for  the  highest  command  possible. 
He  demurred  to  the  rank  of  captain-com- 
mandant, equal  to  that  of  major-general  in 
the  army,  and  maintained  that  nothing  less 
than  rear-admiral  was  fitting.  He  laid  the 
account  of  all  his  deeds  and  honors  before 
the  dazzled  Russian  minister  at  Copenhagen, 
and  said  :  "  The  unbounded  admiration  and 
profound  respect  which  I  have  long  felt  for  the 


106  PAUL  JONES 

glorious  character  of  her  Imperial  Majesty, 
forbids  the  idea  that  a  sovereign  so  mag- 
nanimous should  sanction  any  arrangement 
that  may  give  pain  at  the  outset  to  the  man 
she  deigns  to  honor  with  her  notice,  and  who 
wishes  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  her  ser- 
vice." In  order  to  be  in  a  better  position  for 
extorting  honors  from  the  empress,  Jones 
wrote  Jefferson  suggesting  that  Congress 
bestow  upon  him  the  rank  of  rear-admiral; 
and  took  occasion  to  assert,  on  the  eve  of 
taking  service  under  a  despot,  the  undying 
character  of  his  love  for  America. 

"  I  am  not  forsaking,"  he  wrote,  "  the 
country  that  has  had  so  many  distinguished 
and  difficult  proofs  of  my  affection  ;  and  can 
never  renounce  the  glorious  title  of  a  cit- 
izen of  the  United  States.''^  [Italics  are 
Jones's], 

Jones  left  Copenhagen  on  his  ill-fated 
Russian  mission,  April  11,  and  made  a  fly- 
ing and  perilous  trip  to  St.  Petersburg.  He 
crossed  the  ice-blocked  Baltic  in  a  small  boat, 
compelled,  at  the  muzzle  of  his  pistols,  the 
unwilling  boatmen  to  proceed,  and  on  his  ar- 


AMBITION  AND  BUSINESS  107 

rival  at  his  destination,  on  April  23,  was  pre- 
sented to  the  empress,  who  conferred  upon 
him  the  coveted  rank  of  rear-admiral,  to  the 
intense  irritation  of  many  of  the  English 
officers  in  the  service  of  Russia,  who  looked 
upon  Jones  as  a  red-handed  pirate.  In 
June  Catherine  wrote  to  her  favorite  at  the 
time  :  "I  am  sorry  that  all  the  officers  are 
raging  about  Paul  Jones.  I  hope  fervently 
that  they  will  cease  their  mad  complaints, 
for  he  is  necessary  to  us."  In  1792,  long 
after  the  war  in  which  Jones  had  played  a 
part,  Catherine  said,  with  a  different  accent : 
"  Ce  Paul  Jones  etait  une  bien  mauvaise 
tete."  Certainly  Jones's  diplomacy,  which 
was  of  a  direct  character,  was  not  equal  to 
his  present  situation,  unfamiliar  to  him,  and 
for  success  demanding  conduct  tortuous  and 
insincere  to  an  Oriental  degree.  Jones,  in 
comparison  with  his  associates  in  Russia,  was 
remarkably  truthful,  —  a  trait  which  involved 
him  in  humiliating  difficulties,  and  which  was 
a  source  of  irritation  to  the  empress  and  to 
all  concerned. 


IX 
IN  THE  RUSSIAN   SERVICE 

Paul  Jones  left  St.  Petersburg  on 
May  7,  to  take  command  of  the  Russian 
squadron  in  the  Black  Sea.  Before  his 
departure  he  requested  of  the  empress 
"  never  to  be  condemned  unheard."  This, 
one  of  the  most  modest  demands  Jones  ever 
made,  was,  as  the  sequel  will  show,  denied 
him.  He  arrived  on  the  19th  at  St.  Eliza- 
beth, the  headquarters  of  Prince  Potemkin, 
the  former,  favorite  of  the  empress  and  the 
commander  in  chief  of  the  war  against  the 
Turks.  Potemkin,  under  whose  orders 
Jones  stood,  was  of  a  thoroughly  despotic 
type.  As  Potemkin  was  a  prince,  Jones 
was  at  first  disposed  to  flatter  him  extrava- 
gantly, but  the  commodore  was  by  nature 
averse  to  being  dictated  to,  particidarly  by 
those  whom  he  deemed  his  inferiors,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  they  began  to  quarrel. 


IN  THE  RUSSIAN  SERVICE         109 

Paul  Jones  was  put  in  command  of  the 
squadron  which  was  to  oppose  the  fleet  of 
the  Capitan  Pacha,  and  thus  help  the  Russian 
army  to  take  Oczakow,  a  town  lying  at  the 
junction  of  the  Bog  with  the  Knieper,  which 
had  been  strongly  fortified  by  the  Turks. 
Unfortunately,  Jones  was  not  only  subject  to 
the  orders  of  Prince  Potemkin,  but  the  im- 
mediate command  of  the  fleet  was  divided 
between  him  and  a  thoroughly  incompetent 
and  arrogant  adventurer,  the  Prince  of  Nas- 
sau. Jones  commanded  the  heavier  ships, 
forming  the  squadron,  while  Nassau  was  in 
charge  of  a  considerable  force  of  Russian  gun- 
boats and  barges,  composing  what  was  called 
the  flotilla.  Between  Jones  and  Nassau  ex- 
isted extreme  jealousy.  In  fact,  the  only 
officer  in  high  position  with  whom  Jones 
stood  on  an  amicable  footing  was  the  distin- 
guished General  Suwarrow.  Early  in  the 
campaign  the  Russian  had  advised  Jones  to 
allow  Potemkin  to  take  the  credit  of  any 
success  that  might  result,  and  to  hold  his 
tongue,  —  two  things  which  Jones,  unfortu- 
nately, was  quite  incapable  of  doing. 


no  PAUL  JONES 

It  is  impossible  to  enter  into  the  details  of 
this  campaign,  but  enough  may  be  given  to 
explain  the  difficulties  which  Jones  encoun- 
tered. After  some  unimportant  engagements 
beween  the  two  fleets,  an  action  of  importance 
occurred  which  disclosed  the  deep  differences 
between  Jones  and  his  Russian  allies.  The 
Capitan  Pacha  attempted  to  attack  the  Rus- 
sian fleet,  but  one  of  his  ships  ran  aground, 
and  the  others  anchored.  Jones  saw  his  op- 
portunity and  ordered  a  general  attack  on  the 
confused  Turkish  fleet,  which  cut  anchor  and 
fled,  with  Jones  in  pursuit.  The  Wolodimer, 
Jones's  flagship,  steered  straight  for  the 
Capitan  Pacha's  ship,  which  ran  aground  ; 
whereupon  one  of  Jones's  officers,  without 
orders,  dropped  the  Wolodimer' s  anchor. 
In  the  mean  time  the  flotilla,  under  Nas- 
sau, lagged  behind,  and  Jones,  in  order  to 
offset  the  operations  of  the  Turkish  flo- 
tilla, which  had  already  destroyed  one  of 
the  Russian  frigates,  left  his  anchored  flag- 
ship to  go  in  search  of  Nassau,  whom  he 
found  with  his  flotilla  occupied  in  firing  on 
two  Turkish  ships  which  were  aground  and 


IN  THE  RUSSIAN  SERVICE         ill 

were,  moreover,  under  the  guns  of  the 
Russian  ships,  and  might  justly  be  regarded 
as  prizes.  Nassau  persisted  in  this  useless 
undertaking  imtil  the  enemy's  vessels  had 
been  burned  and  the  crews  had  perished  in 
the  flames.  When  Jones  found  he  was 
unable  to  withdraw  the  prince  from  this 
bloody  and  unprofitable  proceeding,  he  or- 
dered an  attack,  with  a  part  of  Nassau's 
ships,  upon  the  Turkish  flotilla,  which  was 
soon  driven  off. 

During  the  night  the  Capitan  Pacha 
attempted  to  pass  out  from  the  Liman,  with 
the  remains  of  his  squadron ;  but  nine  of  his 
ships  grounded,  and,  being  thus  brought 
within  range  of  the  Russian  fort  on  the  ex- 
treme point  of  Kinburn,  were  fired  upon 
and  were  practically  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Russians.  Nevertheless,  the  Prince  of 
Nassau  advanced  in  the  morning  with  his 
flotilla,  and,  to  Jones's  extreme  rage,  burned 
the  grounded  Turkish  ships,  three  thousand 
Turks  who  were  practically  prisoners  perish- 
ing in  the  flames. 

On  July  1  Nassau,  with  his  flotilla,  ad- 


112  PAUL  JONES 

vanced  against  the  flotilla  of  the  Turks,  but 
did  not  seem  anxious  to  go  within  grape- 
shot  ;  and  Jones,  with  his  heavier  ships,  went 
to  capture  five  Turkish  galleys  lying  under 
the  cover  of  the  guns  of  the  Turkish  battery 
and  flotilla.  Two  of  these  galleys  were 
captured  and  the  others  destroyed.  Nassau 
and  Alexiano  directed  their  belligerent 
efforts  against  the  captured  galleys,  one  of 
which  was  —  with  all  the  slaves  on  board, 
—  ruthlessly  burned.  Other  Turkish  ships 
were  likewise  needlessly  destroyed,  a  mode 
of  warfare  quite  at  variance  with  the  tra- 
ditions of  Jones.  He  expressed  his  conse- 
quent disgust  in  terms  more  genuine  than 
diplomatic. 

As  a  reward  of  his  idiotic  actions,  on  the 
basis  of  an  inflated  and  dishonest  report  of 
the  battle  which  was  sent  to  the  empress, 
Nassau  received  a  valuable  estate,  the  mili- 
tary order  of  St.  George,  and  authority  to 
hoist  the  flag  of  rear-admiral ;  other  officers 
were  also  substantially  rewarded  ;  while  all 
that  was  given  to  Jones,  whose  honest  but 
unflattering   report   had   been    rejected  by 


IN  THE  RUSSIAN  SERVICE         113 

Potemkin,  was  the  order  of  St.  Anne.  It  is 
easy  to  imagine  Jones's  bitterness.  He  says 
in  his  journal :  "  If  he  (Nassau)  has  received 
the  rank  of  vice-admiral,  I  will  say  in  the 
face  of  the  universe  that  he  is  unworthy 
of  it." 

Referring  to  the  cowardice  of  his  associates 
who,  in  order  to  escape,  he  says,  provided 
their  boats  with  small  chaloupes^  Jones 
writes  :  — 

"  For  myself  I  took  no  precautions.  I 
saw  that  I  must  conquer  or  die." 

Jones's  bitterness,  partly  justified  by  the 
facts,  seems  at  this  time  to  have  reached 
almost  the  point  of  madness,  and  the  quarrel 
between  him  and  his  associates  increased  in 
virulence.  In  the  course  of  the  unimportant 
operations  following  the  defeat  of  the  Turks, 
during  which  the  squadron  maintained  a 
strict  blockade  of  Oczakow,  Jones  was  sent 
on  a  number  of  trivial  enterprises  by  Potem- 
kin,  whose  language  was  carefully  chosen  to 
irritate  the  fiery  Scotchman.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  commanded  Jones  "  to  receive  him 
(the  Capitan  Pacha)  courageously,  and  drive 


114  PAUL   JONES 

him  back.  I  require  that  this  be  clone  vnth- 
out  loss  of  time ;  if  not,  you  will  be  made 
answerable  for  every  neglect."  In  rej^ly, 
Jones  complained  of  the  injustice  done  his 
officers.  Shortly  afterwards  Jones  doubted 
the  wisdom  of  one  of  Potemkin's  orders, 
and  wrote  :  "  Every  man  is  master  of  his 
opinion,  and  this  is  mine."  When  Potem- 
kin  again  wrote  Jones  "  to  defend  himself 
courageously,"  the  latter's  annotation  was : 
"  It  will  be  hard  to  believe  that  Prince 
Potemkin  addressed  such  words  to  Paul 
Jones."  To  the  prince  he  wrote  in  terms 
alternately  flattering  and  complaining  :  — 

"  Your  Highness  has  so  good  a  heart  that 
you  will  excuse  the  hastiness  of  expression 
which  escaped  me.  I  am  anxious  to  con- 
tinue in  the  service." 

But  the  despotic  Potemkin  had  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  could  not  get  along  with  Paul 
Jones,  and  with  an  indirectness  characteristic 
of  him,  secured  an  order  for  the  latter  for  ser- 
vice "  in  the  northern  seas."  This  was  practi- 
cally a  dismissal  for  Jones,  who  returned  in 
virtual  disgrace  to    St.   Petersburg,    where 


IN  THE  RUSSIAN  SERVICE         115 

he  hoped  to  be  put  in  command  of  the 
Baltic  fleet.  Catherine,  however,  was  now 
sincerely  anxious  to  get  rid  of  Jones,  but 
on  account  of  his  powerful  friends  in  France 
did  not  dare  to  do  so  openly.  She  had 
"condemned  him  unheard,"  and  repeated 
her  injustice  in  a  still  more  pointed  way ; 
for  in  March,  1789,  while  Jones  was 
waiting:  for  the  command  which  never 
came,  he  was  falsely  accused  of  an  atro- 
cious crime  and  forbidden  to  approach  the 
palace  of  the  empress,  being  again  "  con- 
demned unheard."  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  French  ambassador,  de  Segur,  who  had 
a  strong  influence  on  Catherine,  the  crime 
might  always  have  been  attributed  to  Paul 
Jones.  De  Segur,  however,  proved  to  Cath- 
erine that  Jones  was  the  victim  of  a  plot,  and 
she  was  forced  to  recall  the  unfortunate 
man  to  court.  Soon  afterwards  Jones,  who 
had  for  a  long  time  been  greatly  suffering  in 
health,  was  given  two  years'  leave  of  absence. 
Paul  Jones's  experience  in  Russia  was  the 
most  unfortunate  part  of  an  unfortunate 
career.     His  services  to  that  country,  which 


116  PAUL   JONES 

were  considerable,  were  never  recognized. 
His  report  of  the  Liman  campaign  had  been 
rejected,  and  be  bad  been  unjustly  deposed 
from  tbe  actual  command  and  an  empty 
promise  substituted.  His  letters  bad  been 
systematically  intercepted,  and  be  was  a 
victim,  not  only  of  a  detestable  plot  involv- 
ing bis  moral  character,  but  of  many  other 
charges  equally  virident  and  untrue. 

It  was  grotesquely  reported,  for  instance, 
that  he  had  murdered  his  nephew,  who  in 
reality  did  not  exist.  The  leave  of  absence, 
moreover,  must  have  been  to  a  man  of  his 
spirit  a  severe  blow. 

At  the  close  of  the  journal  of  the  Liman 
campaign  Jones's  bitterness  is  pathetically 
expressed  in  inflated  self-praise,  called  out 
by  the  desire  to  confute  the  calumnies  of  his 
enemies.  "  Every  one  to  whom  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  known,"  he  wrote,  "  is  aware 
that  I  am  the  least  selfish  of  mankind.  .  .  . 
This  is  known  to  the  whole  American  people. 
.  .  .  Have  I  not  given  proofs  sufficiently 
striking  that  I  have  a  heart  the  most  sensi- 
tive,  a  soul  the  most  elevated  ?  .  .  .  I  am 


IN  THE  RUSSIAN  SERVICE         117 

the  only  man  in  the  world  that  possesses  a 
sword  given  by  the  king  of  France  .  .  .  but 
what  completes  my  happiness  is  the  esteem 
and  friendship  of  the  most  virtuous  of  men, 
whose  fame  will  be  immortal ;  and  that  a 
Washington,  a  Franklin,  a  D'Estaing,  a  La 
Fayette,  think  the  bust  of  Paul  Jones  worthy 
of  being  placed  side  by  side  with  their  own. 
.  .  .  Briefly,  I  am  satisfied  with  myseK." 


LAST   DAYS 

On  August  18,  1789,  Paul  Jones  left  St. 
Petersburg,  never  to  return,  and  never  again 
to  fight  a  battle.  He  was  only  forty-two 
years  old,  but  although  his  ambition  was  as 
intense  as  ever,  his  health  had  through  un- 
remitting exertions  and  exposure  become  un- 
dermined. For  many  years  the  active  man 
had  not  known  what  it  was  to  sleep  four 
hours  at  a  time,  and  now  his  left  lung  was 
badly  affected,  and  he  had  only  a  few  years 
more  to  live.  After  an  extended  tour,  de- 
voted mainly  to  business  and  society,  —  dur- 
ing the  course  of  which  he  met  Kosciusko 
at  Warsaw,  visited,  among  other  cities, 
Vienna,  Munich,  Strassburg,  and  London,  — 
Jones  reached  Paris,  where  Aimee  de  Theli- 
son  and  his  true  home  were,  on  May  30, 
1790.    He  resigned  from  his  position  in  the 


LAST  DAYS  119 

Russian   navy,  and    remained   most   of  the 
time  until  his  death  in  the  French  capital. 

The  great  French  Revolution  had  taken 
place  ;  and  Paul  Jones  occupied  the  position, 
unusual  for  him,  of  a  passive  spectator  of 
great  events.  Acquainted  with  men  of  all 
parties,  with  Bertrand  Barere,  Carnot,  Robe- 
spierre, and  Danton,  as  well  as  with  the 
more  conservative  men  with  whom  his  own 
past  had  led  him  to  sympatliize,  —  Lafayette, 
Mirabeau,  and  Malesherbes,  —  Jones's  last 
days  were  not  lacking  in  picturesque  oppor- 
tunity for  observation.  He  felt  great  sym- 
pathy for  the  king,  with  whom  he  had  been 
acquainted,  and  who  had  bestowed  upon  him 
the  title  of  chevalier  and  the  gold  sword. 
For  Mirabeau,  as  for  other  really  great  men 
Jones  knew,  —  Franklin,  Washington,  and 
Suwarrow,  —  he  had  extreme  admiration, 
and  on  the  occasion  of  the  famous  French- 
man's death  wrote :  "I  have  never  seen  or 
read  of  a  man  capable  of  such  mastery  over 
the  passions  and  the  follies  of  such  a  mob. 
There  is  no  one  to  take  the  place  of  Mira- 
beau."    Of  the  mob  Jones  wrote  with  aris- 


120  PAUL  JONES 

tocratic  hatred :  "  There  have  been  many 
moments  when  my  heart  turned  to  stone 
towards  those  who  call  themselves  '  the  peo- 
ple '  in  France.  More  than  once  have  I 
harbored  the  wish  that  I  might  be  intrusted 
by  Lafayette  with  the  command  of  the 
Palace,  with  carte  hlanche  to  defend  the 
constitution;  and  that  I  might  have  once 
more  with  me,  if  only  for  one  day,  my  old 
crews  of  the  Ranger,  the  Richard,  and  the 
Alliance !  I  surely  would  have  made  the 
thirty  cannon  of  the  courtyard  teach  to 
that  mad  rabble  the  lesson  that  grapeshot 
has  its  uses  in  struggles  for  the  rights  of 
man  !  " 

Jones  always  had  much  to  say  on  the 
organization  of  navies  and  the  principles  of 
naval  warfare.  About  this  time  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  Admiral  Kersaint,  of  the  French 
navy,  in  which  he  criticised  fearlessly  and 
trenchantly  the  naval  tactics  of  the  French. 
Their  policy,  he  explained,  was  to  "  neutral- 
ize the  power  of  their  adversaries,  if  possible, 
by  gTand  manoeuvres  rather  than  to  destroy 
it  by  grand  attack ;  "  and  objecting  to  this 


LAST  DAYS  121 

policy,  the  dashing  Jones,  who  always  de- 
sired to  "  get  alongside  the  enemy,"  wrote  : 
"  Their  (the  French)  combinations  have 
been  superb ;  but  as  I  look  at  them,  they 
have  not  been  harmful  enough  ;  they  have 
not  been  calculated  to  do  as  much  capturing 
or  sinking  of  ships,  and  as  much  crippling 
or  killing  of  seamen,  as  true  and  lasting  suc- 
cess in  naval  warfare  seems  to  me  to  demand. 
.  .  .  Should  France  thus  honor  me  [with  a 
command]  it  must  be  with  the  unqualified 
understanding  that  I  am  not  to  be  restricted 
by  the  traditions  of  her  naval  tactics  ;  but 
with  full  consent  that  I  may,  on  suitable 
occasion,  to  be  decreed  by  my  judgment  on 
the  spot,  try  conclusions  with  her  foes  to  the 
bitter  end  or  to  death,  at  shorter  range  and 
at  closer  quarters  than  have  hitherto  been 
sanctioned  by  her  tactical  authorities." 

Paul  Jones,  although  in  these  last  years 
he  was  forced,  more  than  was  agreeable  to 
him,  to  play  the  role  of  an  intelligent  com- 
mentator, remained  a  man  of  action  to  the 
end.  He  sought,  this  time  in  vain,  to  ex- 
tract from  the   French   government   wages 


122  PAUL   JONES 

still  due  the  crew  of  the  old  Bonhomme 
Richard.  His  failure  brought  out  an  unusu- 
ally bitter  letter,  in  which  he  again  recounted 
his  services  and  the  wrongs  done  him  by  the 
various  ministers  of  marine.  As  he  grew 
older  and  more  disappointed  the  deeds  he 
had  done  seemed  mountain  high  to  him. 
"  My  fortitude  and  self-denial  alone  di'agged 
Holland  into  the  war,  a  service  of  the  great- 
est importance  to  this  nation;  for  without 
that  great  event,  no  calculation  can  ascertain 
when  the  war  would  have  ended.  .  .  .  Would 
you  suppose  that  I  was  driven  out  of  the 
Texel  in  a  single  frigate  belonging  to  the 
United  States,  in  the  face  of  forty-two  Eng- 
lish ships  and  vessels  posted  to  cut  off  my 
retreat  ?  " 

With  equal  energy  the  failing  commodore 
never  ceased  to  hope  and  strive  for  an  im- 
portant command.  To  head  an  expedition 
against  the  Barbary  pirates  had  long  been  ^Nith 
him  a  favorite  scheme,  and  now  he  looked  for- 
ward eagerly  to  a  position  in  the  French  navy. 

By  the  irony  of  fate  a  letter  came  fiom 
Mr.  Jefferson  announcing  Jones's  appoint- 


LAST  DAYS  123 

ment  as  commissioner  for  treating  with  the 
Dey  and  government  of  Algiers.  But  it  was 
too  late,  for  before  the  letter  arrived  in 
Paris  Paul  Jones  was  dead.  On  July  11, 
1792,  a  week  before  he  died,  he  had  at- 
tended a  session  of  the  French  Assembly 
and  had  made  a  felicitous  speech.  He  ex- 
pressed his  love  for  America,  for  France, 
and  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  regretted 
his  faihng  health  as  interfering  with  his  ac- 
tivity in  their  service.  He  closed  with  the 
pathetic  words  :  — 

"  But  ill  as  I  am,  there  is  yet  something 
left  of  the  man  —  not  the  admiral,  not  the 
chevaher  —  but  the  plain,  simple  man  whom 
it  delights  me  to  hear  you  call  '  Paul  Jones,' 
without  any  rank  but  that  of  fellowship,  and 
without  any  title  but  that  of  comrade.  So 
now  I  say  to  you  that  whatever  is  left  of 
that  man,  be  it  never  so  faint  or  feeble,  will 
be  laid,  if  necessary,  upon  the  altar  of 
French  Liberty  as  cheerfully  as  a  child  lies 
down  to  pleasant  dreams  !  My  friends,  I 
would  love  to  pursue  this  theme,  but,  as  you 
see,  my  voice  is  failing  and  my  lower  limbs 


124  PAUL  JONES 

become  swollen  when  I  stand  up  too  long. 
At  any  rate  I  have  said  enough.  I  am  now 
ready  to  act  whenever  and  wheresoever  bid- 
den by  the  voice  of  France." 

Jones's  cough  and  the  swelling  in  his  legs 
continued ;  a  few  days  later  jaundice  and 
dropsy  set  in,  and  it  was  clear  to  his  friends 
that  the  end  was  near.  Aimee  de  Thelison, 
Gouverneur  Morris,  and  some  of  the  distin- 
guished revolutionists  were  about  him  dur- 
ing the  last  few  days  of  his  life.  On  the 
afternoon  of  July  18,  1792,  his  will  was 
witnessed,  and  about  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening  he  was  found  in  his  room,  lying 
with  his  clothes  on,  face  down  across  the 
middle  of  the  bed,  dead. 

The  next  day  the  National  Assembly  passed 
a  resolution  decreeing  "  that  twelve  of  its 
members  shall  assist  at  the  funeral  of  a  man 
who  has  so  well  served  the  cause  of  liberty.'* 

True  or  not,  the  words  attributed  to  Na- 
poleon after  Trafalgar,  in  1805,  are  no  more 
than  justice  to  Paul  Jones. 

"  How  old,"  Napoleon  asked,  "  was  Paul 
Jones  when  he  died  ?  " 


LAST  DAYS  125 

On  being  told  that  Jones  was  forty-five 
years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death,  Napoleon 
said  :  — 

"  Then  he  did  not  fulfill  his  destiny.  Had 
he  lived  to  this  time,  France  might  have  had 
an  admiral." 

Paul  Jones  has  been  called  by  his  friends 
patriot,  and  by  his  enemies  pirate.  In  real- 
ity he  was  neither.  He  was  not  one  of  those 
deeply  ethical  natures  that  subordinate  per- 
sonal glory  and  success  to  the  common  good. 
As  an  American  he  cannot  be  ranked  with 
his  great  contemporaries,  for  his  patriotism 
consisted  merely  in  being  fair  and  devoted 
to  the  side  he  had  for  the  time  espoused 
rather  than  in  quiet  work  as  a  citizen  after 
the  spectacular  opportunity  had  passed.  He 
was  ready  to  serve  wherever  he  saw  the  best 
chance  for  himself,  whether  it  was  with  the 
United  States,  Russia,  or  France.  In  no 
unworthy  sense  of  the  word,  however,  was 
he  an  adventurer.  The  deepest  thing  in  his 
soul,  the  love  of  glory,  rendered  him  incapa- 
ble at  once  of  meanness  and  of  true  patriot- 
ism.   In  search  for  fame  he  gave  up  family, 


126  PAUL  JONES 

friends,  and  religion.  In  these  relations  of 
life  he  would  have  been  and  was,  as  far  as 
he  went,  tolerant  and  kind ;  but  in  them 
he  was  not  interested.  Love  of  glory  made 
him  a  lonely  figure.  It  rendered  him  a 
poseur^  vain  and  snobbish,  but  it  also 
spurred  him  on  to  contend,  with  phenomenal 
energy,  against  almost  innumerable  diffi- 
culties. 

As  far  as  his  deeds  are  concerned,  Paul 
Jones  appears  in  the  popular  consciousness 
as  he  really  was,  —  a  bolt  of  effectiveness,  a 
desperate,  successful  fighter,  a  sea  captain 
whose  habit  was  to  appear  unexpectedly  to 
confound  his  enemies,  and  then  to  disappear, 
no  one  knew  where,  only  to  reappear  with 
telling  effect.  He  has  been  the  hero  of  the 
novelists,  who,  expressing  the  popular  idea, 
have  pictured  him  with  essential  truth.  A 
popular  hero,  indeed,  he  was,  and  will  re- 
main so,  justly,  in  the  memory  of  men. 


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A  Series  of  Biographies  of  Alen   conspicuous  in    the    Political 
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